Levyn
by tankgirly
Summary: The new life of Jowan began. Set M for later chapters
1. Chapter 1

**A/N **_This is not an AU fanfic, it's entirely possible, if you made the correct dialogue choices and from a mage origin._

_Who's Levyn? Anyone who's a big fan of our poor bloodmage friend would tell you._

_Thanks for Niksche for the beta. I have some of the best beta in the world! I love you all deeply!_

* * *

**Dragon Age: Origins **

** Levyn **

** Chapter One – Brecilian Passage, The Gatecrasher **

South Brecilian Forest.

Midday.

The fog curled around the bulky trees and leafy branches. Like a thick blanket, it blocked the sunlight, wrapping the entire forest in its grip, creating an invisible barrier, and making even identifying one's own outstretched fingers difficult. The moisture in the air was so heavy; it was almost certain one could squeeze water out of it. Other than the sound of water streaming, under the green ferns and low bushes, animal voices of all kinds could be heard echoing across the woods. Magpies, birds, wild cats, bears, and wolves could be heard here.

A hooded figure moved swiftly between the trees, fallen leaves and twigs crackling beneath footsteps on the forest floor. Some animals stirred, moving away in fright. The beige robe the hung across the figure's shoulders was battered and stained. Patches of dry blood could be spotted here and there on the swirl-pattern fabric. The large ironbark staff that swung across the back suggested it was a mage. He paused to check his surroundings, as if he was ensuring no one followed him. Finally, when he came to a small clearing by the stream, he stopped and removed his hood, revealing his dark, slightly longer hair and pale skin. His eyes were as clear as the blue sky. The stubble on his face almost could be categorized as a beard.

It was Jowan.

He scooped a handful of water from the stream. His mind still dwelled in the memory of his dear friend. It had been months since he rescued the refugees at the edge of the Brecilian Forest. Months since he last saw his childhood friend, now a Grey Warden. Her green eyes, full of sadness and unwillingness to part, were still imprinted deep in his memory. Even now, her last emotional sob and goodbye caused a thickness to rise in his throat.

_"Where will you go now__?" asked__ his friend._

"_I don't know__," sighed Jowan. "Anywhere that doesn't have Templars who want to slit my throat, perhaps."_

"_Join us, Jowan." The little elf made her plea one last time: "With us, no one dare to touch even a single stran__d of your__hair."_

"_Nice offer, but no." Jowan grinned__.__ "You have __enough burdens with you already__."_

"_Burden?" Oghren hiccupped behind his friend. _

"_Oh, shush!" Another companion, Zevran, gave the Dwarf a sidelong glare._

"_Jowan…__.__" His Grey Warden friend didn't know what else to say. She continued to look into his piercing blue eyes__. It took him all his strength to pull away._

"_Well… I suppose this is goodbye." The former mage picked up his rucksack and his staff. "Farewell, Neph…my dear friend. Thanks for…everything."_

_He managed to walk all the way to the top of the hill before hearing Neph's tearful cry: "JOWAN!"_

_He sprung around, just in time to see the petite elf run all the way from the bottom of the hill and into his arms. Her face was streaked in tears. She did not say anything, but held her best friend tightly for a good long minute, as if trying to imprint his scent onto her memory, before releasing him again._

"_Farewell, Jowan," she whispered: "May your life treat you much more fairly from now on."_

Jowan sighed and finished drinking the water in his palm.

In some way, he was free. He was no longer called Jowan; instead, he used an alias, Levyn, for his new life. No more Templars chasing after him, partially because his phylactery was destroyed by no one but himself, which lead to a rather disastrous exit for him; and partially because of the Blight, which Neph had briefly told him about when they met again in Redcliff after that… rather disastrous exit. Almost every man available in Ferelden had been summoned to Denerim, preparing for the final battle against the darkspawn and the legendary Archdemon and had not yet returned to their post. One of Neph's companions suggested a hut deep in the Korcari Wilds and suggested a much longer but safer route to get there.

_"It should be unoccupied at the moment." Morrigan caste Neph a side glance "It's very comfy, let me assure you. And it's enchanted, so no one, not even darkspawn, can find you."_

Jowan – no, Levyn – found a tree stump and sat down. He pulled out the map from his rucksack and studied the vellum document intensely for the next twenty minutes or so. He was near the edge of the forest. In about another day's journey, he would enter the notorious Korcari Wilds. Approximately another day's travel, and he should arrive at his destination. Then he could remain in there for a little while, perhaps until the Blight buzz quieted down, or he might stay in the area and help the locals.

With every man and his mabari now occupied in the north, it would be much safer to hide in the south. Besides, he reckoned he might end up helping more people here than being up north. Most outposts here were so remote, and had been attacked or overrun by the darkspawn more than once.

Levyn folded the map and tucked it back to the sack. He stood up and was about to continue on his journey when he heard heavy footsteps coming toward his direction. From his experience it did not sound like animals, as they usually traveled light and quiet, most of time avoiding humans as much as possible. It was too heavy for typical refugees, as they also usually traveled light in times like this. Only two possibilities remained – Templars or darkspawn. And he dreaded to meet either one of them.

He pulled up his hood, quickly pushed the nearby fern aside and dived in. He lowered himself to a much more obscure position. The heavy stomping footsteps drew near; in the split seconds, the plants around him began to die out and bend into twisted shapes.

He was correct. Those were darkspawn.

Chin nearly touching the ground, the mage watched as the pack of darkspawn moved past him. With the leafy plants and ferns dying around him, the blood mage was surprised they did not even notice him. As the matter of fact, this particular pack of darkspawn seemed to be going somewhere in a hurry.

Levyn frowned. Now, he had never heard of darkspawn _in a hurry_ to go somewhere, so much so that they completely missed what was right under their noses. This was unusual, very unusual indeed. _ What were they doing, and where were they going in such a hurry?_

The pack was quickly disappearing; he needed to act fast if he decided to do something. Against all his logic sense, he did. With practiced stealth, Very shiftily, the mage rose from his position and quietly followed the darkspawn from a safe distance. Those creatures traveled unbelievably fast, he had to cast Haste on himself several times in order to catch up with them. Soon, the scenery around him began to change. Strange plantations, shimmering in strange glows, started to appear among the dead trees. Giant, empty cocoons were spotted among the dry ferns. Puddles of blood and rotten flesh could be seen everywhere. Even the animals hidden in the shadows seemed to change. Jowan could have sworn he spotted beady eyes, sparkling with something sinister, behind some thorny growths_._ This was once the Brecilian Forest? He shivered with the thought.

It didn't take the darkspawn long to arrive at their destination. It was a medium-size farm. Whoever used to live there should probably be one of those dead bodies scattered around the place. The whole farm was drenched in blood. The rotten flesh smell filled his nose. The mage had to quickly cover his mouth to stop himself from screaming.

Judging by the decoration, minus the blood and dead bodies, the darkspawn had probably gate crashed some kind of party. Several men were skewered on a smashed carriage; some were hanging under the roof of the main house. Near the barn, a large cow was gutted and its contents poured out. A half-eaten headless horse lay near the well. The bloodstained tablecloth was torn and hung flying in the early afternoon wind. Half-eaten food, along with some kind of body parts were strewn everywhere.

Carefully hiding behind a large ale barrel, the blood mage did a rough mental count. Including the pack he was following, there were four Genlocks, two Hurlock, one Genlock Emissary, one what seemed to be a Hurlock Emissary, one shriek and one of the most hideous bug-looking creature he had ever seen in his life. A new breed of darkspawn, perhaps? Why would such a large group of darkspawn attack this farm, right in the middle of nowhere? What was so special about this farm? He was under the impression the Blight was finished, months ago, why was there still such a large group of them here, on the surface?

What came next nearly knocked him out of his hiding spot.

The Genlock Emissary, who had seemed to be studying a corpse lying not very far from the main house, suddenly stood up and barked, "This one is alive!"

Levyn could not believe what he had just heard. A talking darkspawn? What was the world coming to?

"Urhh…who ate her eyeballs?" The talking Hurlock clicked his tongue. "The Scholar would not be pleased!"

The Scholar?

Other darkspawn seemed to stir and grunt a little bit. Finally, one of the Genlock pointed at the Shriek and snorted. It looked like it was the Sharlock who was the guilty one. The mage's heart ached. Poor girl.

"We were specifically given the orders not to touch the females, and yet you slaughtered all of them. Have you already fed her the flesh, no?"

The Hurlock shook his head. He picked up the girl and pushed her a little. The girl, who seemed about Levyn's age, plus or minus a few years, seemed unconscious. She swung a little in the talking darkspawn's hand. "Humph…. Very well, we do need all the females we can get after suffering such a heavy loss…. Take her with us! We are leaving!"

The other darkspawn roared and began moving toward one of the exits at the other side of the farm. The talking Hurlock swung the girl over his shoulder and prepared to leave as well. Levyn bit his lower lip, wondering if he should save the girl. If he wanted to save her, how would he take on those darkspawn, considering most of them were twice as big as he was?

The Genlock already disappeared out of sight when Levyn decided to act. The mage waved his staff and murmured an Earthquake spell. Immediately the whole farm began to shake, knocking most of the darkspawn over. The ironbark staff waved again, this time sending a bolt of chain lightening toward the dark creatures. Unable to stand still and nearly having the living daylights zapped out of his twisted body, the talking Hurlock dropped the girl. Seizing this chance, Levyn quickly cast a Haste spell on himself before rushing past the darkspawn group, picking up the girl in the process.

He did not dare stop, himself nor the spell. The mage, carrying the unconscious girl, ran with all his might, all the way until the scenery surrounding him changed back to normal greenery again. Finally, when he was certain he had managed to shake off those dark creatures, he started to slow down.

Panted like a mabari, Levyn stopped at a small stream. He carefully put the girl down and collapsed next to a tree.

"Maker's breath…" The blood mage clutched his heart, his lungs hungrily gasping for more air. "All…this…running…is… killing…me…"

And for Andraste's sake, he hoped he made a good decision this time, snatching a girl from a contingent of darkspawn. It was way more dangerous than saving a few refugees from werewolves or bandits. This could really cost his life! If all he sought was death, he should have done that a few months ago, back in the Redcliff castle, when Neph decided to release him from that dungeon. He could have insisted to stay and help. He was sure when the Arl woke up, he would have been rightfully executed on the spot. That would save a lot of trouble. At least his body would remain intact…to a degree.

The blood mage turned his head slightly and cast a side-glance on the girl who had just escaped from the darkspawn's grasp. She was slim, and from what he felt as he carried her across the forest, she was light as a feather. She wore a white-ish dress, which was now severely battered, barely covered her bruised body and stained with blood. Her long dark hair that seemed to have been braided and pinned in a neat bun earlier, was now loosened, uncoiled and had knots of dried blood in some of it. Her small face, while mostly obscured by her long hair, seemed to have some deep cuts and smudges of dried blood in some areas. The most horrific part, Levyn jolted in fright, was the two large crimson gashes, replacing what used to be her eyes.

The talking darkspawn mentioned one of them plucked her eyeballs out when having a big feast on those humans. Maker's mercy! It must have been downright painful. He absently touched his own eyes; he suddenly pondered what were they planning to do with her once they were back to the Deep Roads. Store her away for food?

Andraste's knickerweasels.

Now what was he going to do? An apostate on the run with a girl who has had her eyes poked out by some darkspawn? Oh, how promising.

At least he should clean her wounds up a little.

Levyn slowly pushed himself away from the soft grass and dragged himself into a sitting position. He stared at the girl for a few minutes before stumbling back to his feet. He located his rucksack in the nearby bushes, untied the drawstring and yanked it open. His hands rummaged within the bag for a couple of seconds and withdrew a few vials of Potent Health Poultice from the bottom. The spells he cast earlier had drained nearly all his mana, or he would use some Healing Spells to fix some of her injuries. He managed to find a reasonably clean handkerchief in his pack and wet it in the stream. The blood mage returned to the still unconscious girl and very gently and carefully, he began to peel away some of her hair and clean some of those nasty bloodstains and dirt off her face.

He poured a few drops of Poultice and used them on the cuts and gashes. They immediately started to heal. The blood mage rummaged in his pack again, found another torn shirt and ripped it into strips. He soaked them with the Poultice and wrapped them around the girl's head, covering her eyes.

Well, at least when she woke up, she wouldn't have a heart attack upon seeing herself in the mirror. Arh, if she managed to i_see_/i at all.

With the cleaning mostly done, he slid an arm under her neck and propped her head up, before tilting the remaining contents inside the vial into her mouth. When he was sure the girl had swallowed it all, Levyn uncorked the last vial and made the girl drink it, too.

"Humph." He dropped the empty glass tube next to his feet and leaned backward. He studied the unconscious girl for a while before letting out a relieved sigh. "That seems better."

The girl still looked pale, her temperature still felt pretty high, but at least her skin didn't look as if it were made of wax anymore.

The blood mage grinned slightly at himself, pulled out a blanket from his bag and gently tugged it around the still unconscious girl. Levyn looked up, shading his eyes with one hand.

The Sun was setting; perhaps he should camp here tonight.

The sound of leaves and dry branches suddenly stirred and crackled behind him. Levyn went rigid. The darkspawn had caught up with him already? The mage cursed under his breath. He should have run a little farther. He was way too careless, stopped too early and spent way too long on this spot. He always did. Rushed ahead before planning everything carefully or thought about the consequences. How many of them were there this time? Five? Six? Or all ten of them? His mana still hadn't recovered fully; this time, they were definitely doomed.

Levyn's hand slowly moved toward his rucksack and found a dagger inside. It was given to him by the Antivan assassin companion of Neph, who adored all things crafty, or preferably, Antivan. The carving and decoration of the knife was excellent, and on this occasion, it was just as good as for another use.

He inhaled deeply and wondered how many of them he would slay before he fell.

The movement drew nearer. The tall ferns near the stream were pushed aside. A small child, about the age of three, emerged. It was a boy, who seemed just as surprised as the blood mage was. He cocked his head sideways and stared at Levyn for a minute or two, seemingly unable to decide if the man who sat in front of him was a darkspawn or something else.

"Da-da?"

"Wha—?" Levyn almost collapsed out of sheer relief. "….a boy?"

More rustling from the thick bushes: "Boo? I told you, don't run off. There is no darkspawn here, but there are still lots of wild animals arou—"

Another man emerged from the trees. It was a well built, olive-skinned man. Wearing only the simplest chainmail armour, a small dagger on his belt, and a large wicker- weave hat. He did not seem to expect to bump into anyone here, either. He blinked at the mage for a minute. "Oh."

"Thank the Maker, I thought…I thought…." Levyn started to laugh.

"Darkspawn don't usually come to this area. The Brecillian Passage is safely guarded by the spirit." The man grinned.

"That's…good to know." The mage smiled, both to the man and the boy. "This one is yours?"

"Yes." The man smiled. "We usually stopp by this stream before heading back to Gwaren. Boo is quite familiar with this area. Oh, forgive my manners. My name is Jethro. We are, armh…what you northerners call? The Chasind."

"Levyn." The mage reached out his hand and shook with the father.

"…So, I take it you were here because of darkspawn?" asked Jethro.

"Yes." Levyn nodded. "Well, in some way—"

His words were interrupted by the excited squeak from Boo, who seemed to have just discovered the girl who lay next to the stream and thought she was a gigantic toy for him to play with. Jethro arched his eyebrow and approached the girl for a closer look. His face darkened a few degrees as soon as he bent down and examined her.

"A friend of yours?" Jethro rubbed his stubbled chin.

"The reason I am running away from the darkspawn." Levyn sighed. "Saw they bloodbathed the entire farm. They were taking her back to the Deep Roads."

"For a good reason," said the Chasind thoughtfully. "Poor thing. She was selected to be the broodmother."

"Huh?" Colour began to withdraw from the blood mage's face. "Brood…mother?"

"During the Blight, we Chasind heard tales, tales of how the twisted creatures dragged the females back underground, to the darkness. There they were transformed into their kind, into the female darkspawn. These tales were more or less confirmed by the surface Dwarves and those who fought with the tainted creatures down below. Was she the only female there?"

"The only one who was still breathing."

"And they already dug her eyes out? Goodness, they must be desperate." Jethro chuckled a little. "They all behave like that since the battle." He meant the battle of the Denerim.

"Yeah, that's rather comforting to know." Levyn's mouth twisted slightly.

"Still." The Chasind stood up. "She needs a good rest and a good check up, with the gashes of her on her face and the fever of hers. And there is no way you are going to get one in the middle of nowhere. Why don't you join us? Our wagon isn't far away."

"Join you?"

"We are heading back to Gwaren, an old fishing town not very far from here." Jethro picked up Boo and added: "It's a town mixed with Chasind, dwarf, elves and Feraldan. The Chantry rules are not as strict as you have experienced up north."

"You…you know?" And here, Levyn thought he'd been hiding it quite well.

"What else will you be doing around this area, risking being attacked by the darkspawn or Blight beast at any minute?" Jethro smirked. "Come on, I will introduce you to my wife."


	2. Chapter 2

**Dragon Age: Origin **

** Levyn **

** Chapter Two – Amaranthine Coast, The Tainted Bride **

Gwaren.

It was the major logging and fishing capital for the remote parts of the East Coast. The former rebel headquarters stood silently in the late afternoon sun. The battlement, made of giant boulders, possibly carved by Dwarves from some long-ago age, cast dark shadows under the crimson sky. The air smelled of sea here, very different from the aroma of dense moss and pine that had filled Levyn senses since he left Redcliff. Several large flags, each embroidered with a yellow wyvern, hung from the watchtowers.

Levyn lifted a corner of the canvas that obscured the passengers onboard the covered wagon and peeked outside. The gravel road was surprisingly busy. Chasind, elves, northerners, Dwarves, the mage could have sworn he even spotted a couple of Antivians among the crowd. Torches were already lit, flickering from the dark stone walls. Several guards paced along the city wall, and some scattered around the main gate, checking documents from anyone who wanted to enter the city.

"There is a curfew on the street every night, since the beginning of the Blight," Jethro's wife Tabitha explained. "Any incoming or outgoing traffic has to go through the check point. Don't worry, they aren't Templars, they aren't fussy about who you are."

"Well, what about those over there?" Levyn pointed at the Templars who stood not very far from the guard, evidently bored as one of them was trying his hardest not to yawn.

"Those? Those are just for show. Believe it or not, few Templars are stationed in this town." Tabitha, who insisted everyone call her Tabi, shrugged. "I personally have never seen them launch at anybody and scream that they were an apostate."

Levyn scratched the back of his head and turned his gaze at the girl. Her ragged breathing seemed to be easing a little bit since the blood mage's brief healing. Her wounds seemed to be healing quite well, too. However, she was still unconscious and did not seem to be waking up anytime soon. Not to mentioned her fever.

"Poor girl." Tabi cocked her head toward the girl. "It was her wedding day…"

"How—?"

"How do I know? That's the wedding dress we wear in this area." Tabi picked up the corner of the girl's tattered dress. Her eyes suddenly brimmed with tears: "They probably thought the Blight was over, so it was all right to have a wedding reception. The poor dear."

"I was told the Brecilian Forest was safe." The bloodmage arched his eyebrow.

"Not near the Korcari Wilds, no." The Chasind wife shook her head. "Darkspawn are still quite active around that region. You thought after the Battle, they would promptly return to the Deep Roads? Nah. There seems to be something brewing, those bloody creatures."

Levyn suddenly remembered the talking darkspawn he saw at the farm. His face instantly clouded with worry. What were those darkspawn up to? Rebuilding another army? Why didn't anyone see a talking darkspawn before? Have they been hiding in the Deep Roads for all this time, only to come up now after the Archdemon was gone?

He was totally immersed in his thoughts, and did not notice Jethro had already jumped off the wagon and started chatting with the guards at the city gate. The guards did a quick scann of the documents and exchanged conversation with the Chasind man. His face turned chalk white. The next thing Levyn noticed as the canvas suddenly flipped open was the guard's grim bearded face as it appeared in the gap.

"Oh, no." The guard took a look at the girl in the corner and gasped. "She must be the Waverly's!"

"She's the Waverly's girl?" Tabi's voice raised a few decibels.

"Not the girl, no," the guard elaborated. "But they were talking about buying a Chasind girl for their son last month, and yesterday they left almost at daybreak for the farm to prepare for the wedding." The guard's eyes saddened. "Maker's Mercy! The whole reception? I warned them about that. Sodding northerners never listen to us!"

"Listen, mammy! L-i-s-t-e-n!" Boo copied the guard's words enthusiastically.

"Well." The guard tilted his head to check with his colleague: "I supposed I'd better let you pass quickly. She really doesn't look all that good. I will send a word to the Revered Mother about the situation, aye? She might send someone over to have a look at the girl. Will they stay at your house?"

Tabi nodded. "I think so, yeah."

"Right, off you go, then!" The guard waved Jethro through, and the Chasind hopped back to the front of the wagon and steered the horse through the gate.

"See? They didn't even ask about who you are," Tabi grinned. "There is really no need to worry."

Leyvn smiled absently, watching Jethro drive the horse through the town square, past the Chantry and down the steep hill at the other side. It was a lot quieter around here and near the sea.

"The Waverlys moved here not very long after we lost Lotherings." Tabi gently patted Boo, trying to calm him down from all the excitement. "They were among the few people who managed to escape the darkspawn slaughter. Their family had been doing logging for generations, owned a few hectors of land at the Korcari Wilds borders."

"Wealthy enough to buy a girl?" Jowan inquired.

"Oh, yes." Tabi grinned slightly. "It's more common than you think, mage. A lot of families in Fereldan do that. Now, the Waverlys in this town were not renown for their kindness. They were the most stubborn and ignorant sorts. Got into trouble with the Chantry a number of times."

"I see," Jowan said as he nodded in understanding.

"Well," the Chasind woman continued to gossip, " old Waverly retired long ago. Their oldest son ran the whole family business these days and, I must say, did a pretty good job. A lot of loggers here worked for him."

"You, too?" Jowan steadied himself as the wagon turned a particular sharp corner.

"Hell, no! We work for ourselves!" Tabi pressed her hand on her chest. "Now, their second son…" she rolled her eyes.

"What's wrong with the second son?" asked Levyn.

"He's an absolute sodding eye sore!" Jethro interrupted: "Fat as a pig and has the intelligence of a nug! Spent most of the time sitting on their balcony, making a goofy laugh and drooling over the women that pass by below. No wonder his parents had to buy him a Chasind girl… no woman in this township would marry him!"

"It doesn't matter now, does it?" Tabi sighed and cast the girl another side-glance. "I suppose, in some way, she was lucky. Imagine spending the rest of your life with a family like that…."

The wagon rolled down a narrow dust road and stopped at a small wooden hut. Leaning in the shadows of several yew trees, somehow it appealed to Levyn as a warm and hearty place.

"Not very flash, lad," Jethro said, his voice warmwith tremendous pride, "but it's our home. We usually stay here once or twice a month, after our logging trip up in the forest, to sell off the logs."

"It's lovely." The blood mage grinned. Suddenly, he remembered something he had said to Neph, in what felt like a lifetime ago: _"We will find a farm in the country, settle down, and have a couple of children!"_

Levyn sighed inwardly. It's a wonder how life turns out at the end.

He helped Jethro unhook the harness and carried some of their luggage inside, while Tabi fed and settled Boo to sleep. It was a small, but well-equipped house, with one modest bedroom upstairs, a kitchen and another bedroom at the rear of the structure. A large, stone-built fireplace was at the center of the front-room parlor, several squashy cushions scattered on a rug covering the hardwood floor.

By the time he and Jethro finished unloaded everything and brought the girl inside, Tabi had already started the fire, and the room was as warm as early spring.

"The girl goes upstairs." Tabi pointed toward the room at the back. She was busy chopping some salted meat and vegetables on the table by the fire. "And Levyn, your room is at the back. We can sleep on the makeshift bed in the frontroom."

"No… you are too kind…."

"I insist, my dear," said the Chasind woman sternly. "Unless you think our house is too trashy for ya?"

"No, of course not!" The blood mage shook his head. "It's already way better than what I normally have in the forest!"

"Good." Tabi smiled. "Dinner should be ready soon. Make yourself comfortable, aye?"

"Say, how long will you be staying here, lad?" Jethro's voice drifted out of the kitchen.

"Humph…I am not sure, really." Levyn watched as Tabi shoveled the chopped food into the cauldron hovering above the fire. "I think I will stay a little while, until I am sure the girl is safe, I suppose."

"That's very gallant of you." Jethro returned to the living room with bottles of ale in his hands. "Given you only met her by chance. Ale?"

"I'm afraid I will have to pass, Jethro," the blood mage said, smiling politely. "I am not on good terms with ale… got horribly drunk a few times a few years back. Got into trouble because of that."

"You really?" The Chasind man cocked his eyebrow, eyeing the mage up and down. "You don't look the type."

"You are not the first to say that!" Levyn laughed. "But I am more dangerous than I look."

"You? If you are dangerous, my son is a nug!" Jethro roared with laughter.

"Oi!" Tabi complained.

"Sorry, love!"

Levyn grinned contently. Jethro and Tabi were the nicest couple he had ever met since…Maker knew when. The warmth they shared between themselves and toward others came out in waves. Was that what normal family was supposed to be like? He didn't have a clue. He was left at the Chantry door at the age of five. Before that, he remembered money had always been tight in the house. There were just way too many children to feed. Father and Mother were constantly fighting, and it usually ended in tears. Later on, when he was in the Tower, yes, he was well fed and had nothing to worry about other than his learning, but the nagging feelings of constantly being watched drove him up the wall. Warmth in the Tower? Laughable.

Someone was knocking the door. Tabi shot her husband a frowning brow, unsure who would visit them at a time like this, considering the curfew. Levyn jerked his eyes toward the wooden door, visibly nervous. Jethro slowly put down his ale and walked toward the door.

He tugged the door open. Outside stood a small, wrinkly old lady. Dressed in a simple mohair robe, her silver hair was combed into a neat bun. She squinted her eyes toward the light as the Chasind man opened his door.

"Good evening, Jethro." She grinned, showing wrinkles deep around her eyes. "Those chaps at the gate told me you lot brought back the Waverlys' bride. May we come in?"

"Hello there, Gwen." The Chasind logger smiled.

* * *

"And you said she had been fed something of theirs when you saved her?" Gwen sat by the bed, with the girl's hand in her lap. She carefully checked the girl's pulse before reaching out her hand to lift the bandages on her eyes slightly for better examination.

"The talking darkspawn seemed to think so, but I am not absolutely sure," Levyn shrugged.

"Oh, she's definitely been exposed to the darkspawn taint, all right, like all those animals and trees did in the forest." Gwen coughed. "Her skin seems blotchy, her pulse is irregular, and have any of you noticed her temperature is way too high?"

"We do, actually." Tabi darted past the old plump lady and replaced the folded towel on the girl's head with another ice-cold one. The new towel hissed with steam as soon as it touched the girl's forehead. "We've been trying to cool her down for quite some times now. But, as you can see, it hasn't worked well."

Levyn bit his lower lip and cast a side-glance at the still unconscious girl. If only his healing ability was as good as his blood magic skill, he would have improved her condition a lot more than he was able to back in the forest. Healing had never been his strong point, not even when he was in the Tower, before he resorted to blood magic. That was Neph's specialty. He remembered having to spend hours practicing after each class every time there was a new healing spell taught, only to see his best friend master it within seconds. It was so frustrating.

_"We can find an empty classroom after the lectures." Neph looked at her dear friend earnestly. "Look! Let me help you! I can show you how to do the spells!"_

"_No…all I need is a few hours alone before lights out," he lied through his gritted teeth. "I will get the hang of it by tomorrow. You go ahead. There is so much to do in potion-making class. Better start sooner or later!"_

"Jowan…"

"_I am serious." The mage apprentice tried his best to smile at his friend. "Go, I will be fine." _

"…_All right." Neph took a deep breath. "See you at the same place tonight?"_

"_Yes." Her best friend suddenly reached out his hand, ran his fingers along her delicate chin line. For a long while they simply stared into each other's eye, but neither of them spoke. _

_Finally, he came back to his senses. "Now go." _

The bloodmage sighed inwardly. Was that the reason he started dabbling with the blood magic, and got in too deep without realizing it? Was that the reason he decided not to tell anybody, even his closest friend? He still saw the shock and feeling of betrayal on her face when Gregior and Irving revealed his true identity every time he closed his eyes. It was one of the many moments he truly regretted what he had done in his life.

"Humph…Wolf," Gwen suddenly called the Templar, who came with her but had been leaning against the wall, staring at Levyn in a rather curious fashion, but did not speak a word since their arrival. "What do you think?"

"The Revered Mother gave me some holy water and a lyrium potion before I picked you up." The middle-aged Templar withdrew his glare from the blood mage rather reluctantly. "I suppose we can give it a try."

"Well, might as well." The old lady shrugged. "Can't be more harmed than she is now."

"Yes, ma'am." Wolf gave Gwen a deep bow before he lowered his head and took off a small pouch that had been hanging on his belt. He yanked the small bag opened and tipped out the contents. It was a small blue bottle, which Levyn recognized instantly as the lyrium potions; and another small bottle that shimmered with golden light.

"_Many are those who wander in sin,_" The Templar drank the lyrium potion, kneeled before the bed, holding the holy water between his grasped hands and started reciting the Chant of Light: "_Despairing that they are lost forever, but the one who repents has faith_. _Unshaken by the darkness of the world, and boasts not, nor gloats…_"

Very slowly, he uncorked the holy water and poured some in the palm of his hand, then sprinkled it over the girl's body.

"_Over the misfortunes of the weak, but takes no delight._" Wolf continued his chanting. A surge of white light rushed through his body, extended out of his outstretched hand and onto the girl. " _In the Maker's law and creations, she shall know the peace of the Maker's benediction. The Light shall lead her safely through the paths of this world, and into the next._"

The girl began to shake, as she tossed her head from one side to the other, mumbling something inaudible. The Templar's eyes showed more determination and his chanting became louder: " _For she who trusts in the Maker, fire is her water. As the moth sees light and goes toward flame, She should see fire and go towards Light_."

The shaking got more violent. The girl now almost shrieked at the top of her lungs in some unrecognizable language. Jethro and Levyn rushed forward, trying to hold her in bed.

" _The Veil holds no uncertainty for her,_" Wolf sprinkled more holy water and started reciting what the blood mage identified was the final part of the Chant: " _and she will know no fear of death, for the Maker shall be her beacon and her shield, her foundation and her sword! In the name of the Maker and holy Andraste, I now expel you, the evil taint, from this body!_"

The girl arched her body backwards, her mouth wide open, her hands hammering the bed rapidly. Blighted light flowed from her mouth, and soon the entire room was bathed in it. After a split second, the light vanished and everything was back to normal.

It was the first time Levyn had ever seen a Templar using their training to expel something evil from a human body. Prior to this, he had always assumed they simply just raised their sword and killed the poor person. At least that was how they did it in the Tower. The only way to get rid of an abomination was to kill it, which was their principle. There was no way around it. But tonight, he saw first hand how the Chantry had the ability to repel the taint to a degree from somebody. To be honest, it…surprised him.

What else had the Chantry not told them? Why did they want to hide such a thing? Was that only because they were mages and posed more threat toward others?

"Her pulse seems more stable:" Gwen checked the girl again as Wolf packed up the bottles. "And her fever is going down. However, the blotchiness is still there. I have a funny feeling the taint had not been siphoned out completely, and this is as much as we can do."

"We should let the Revered Mother have a look at her at daybreak," Wolf suggested.

"Indeed." The old lady nodded in agreement. "Well, I suppose we—"

Her words were interrupted by sudden hammering at the door. The sense of urgency and desperation were unmistakable_._ Once again, everyone looked at each other with arched eyebrows.

"A curfew on the street and we got more visitors then we normally have?" Jethro grimaced. "Maker's Breath, we are spoiled!"

He opened the door and greeted a panicked Templar.

"Thank the Maker, Wolf. I've been knocking four houses and was about to go straight to the Revered Mother!" He looked tremendously relieved.

"What is it?" Wolf moved toward the door.

"Dark….darkspawn!" the young Templar sputtered. "We have darkspawn approaching the gate! Gwaren is under attack!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Dragon Age: Origins **

** Levyn **

** Chapter Three – Gwaren, Darkspawn Attack **

"WHAT?" Wolf's face turned chalk white. "Darkspawn? We never had any darkspawn attack, not even during the Blight. I was under the impression this forest was protected!"

"But they can be sighted at the bridge, Wolf!" The young Templar sounded as if he was about to cry. "What do we do?"

"….How many?" The older Templar's frown deepened.

"About twenty. Two ogres were among them, and there were rumors one of them actually talked."

"Raise the alarm!" Wolf grabbed the door. "And alert the others! Get Zac to dispatch his weapon from the shop! Get someone to inform the Chantry and the Revered Mother! "

The young Templar ran off. Wolf was half out of the door before he jerked his head back toward Gwen.

"I'm sorry, Gwen…."

"Don't worry, chap!" Gwen waved her hand, indicated him to hurry. "I will be fine. I will stay here until it's safe. Do what you must do!"

Wolf regarded her for another second before his huge figure disappeared into the darkness.

"We better go, as well!" Jethro fetched his sword and bow. "Tabi, stay here. Make sure Boo doesn't leave the house!"

"Go, my love." The Chasind woman gave her husband a quick kiss. "Don't worry about us!"

They left the hut and headed straight to the gate. By the time they arrived at the battlements, the alarm was heard throughout the city and everyone was running around in panic. The whole fortification was as bright as day. Several people were already up the wall, anxiously eyeing the forest. Levyn followed Jethro up the stairs and found the guard they talked to earlier near the watchtower: He was pacing back and forth nervously, ready to explode from panic.

"Kayden!" The Chasind quickly approached the guard. "What's happening?"

"Several men are down there, and a handful more are at the bridge to hold them off if they go near!" Kayden rubbed his face. "We've put some barricades up around the bend, as well. But that's barely enough. According to those who spot them, there are two ogres in the group, and a darkspawn that talked! Two ogres! Talking darkspawn! Maker, help us!"

"Talking darkspawn?" Levyn frowned. "Sounds like the same group I ran into earlier."

"Calm down, Kayden!" Jethro patted the guard's shoulders. "That's what we are here for. Where is Wolf?"

"He was here a moment ago," the other guard replied. "I think he's down at the gate, checking the oil barrels. He had sent the messenger to the Teyrna's residence for the Knight's help."

"Let's hope they will response in time," Jethro nodded.

Levyn scanned around the battlement. There were a few Chasind archers and other fighters around. He spotted a couple of Templars he saw earlier, as well. But for some reason, there weren't any mages.

"Mages," he asked Kayden. "Aren't there any mages in town?"

"Only a handful," Jethro replied. "And mostly Chasind. I think they are all down there." He pointed at the wooden bridge standing before the gate.

"None up here?"

"Well, there is always you, mate!" the Chasind joked.

The blood mage's brows shot up. "Me against them all? You've got to be kidding!"

"Well, you did save that girl from them once, did you?" Jethro smirked.

"Yeah, right!" Levyn rolled his eyes. "I ran after I did that, remember? I didn't stay and fight!"

"Whoopsie, sorry!"

Ear-piercing shrieks cut through the air, turning their attention away from the banter. The darkspawn had reached the first line of defense. The tension around the gate instantly rose. The archers knocked their arrows and aimed toward the shadows. The fighters held their shields in front of them, hoping wholeheartedly it would stop the tainted beasts from stabbing their twisted weapons into them.

The ground began to shake. Explosions accompanied by thunderous roars could be heard in the distance. Levyn tightened his grip around his staff, feeling the hair on the back of his neck prickle and his heart flinch at every sound that echoed through the forest. This is it, his first ever battle with the infamous darkspawn. Having heard Neph and several other people mentioned it a few times, never had he thought he would live to have this moment. Part of him, the old Jowan in particular, was absolutely terrified and wanted to escape somewhere else to hide. Just like when he first faced Irving and Gregoir after ascending from the Tower's basement. But another part of him was determined to stay and fight. Having spent most of his time since the Tower running, it was no longer his desire and he wanted to help, in any way, the people of Fereldan.

Several shouts barked into the wind: Soon they could see a couple of people stagger back to the battlement. Not very far from them followed the small, dwarf-sized front trooper Hurlocks. Archers started to fire at top speed, and some fighters at the front began to wave their swords toward the sinister creature.

"This is it," Levyn mumbled. He carefully selected the spells in his mind and recited them out loud. Clouds soon gathered above the clearing in front of the gate and the temperature started to drop. Razor-sharp wind blew through the woods, gradually getting stronger. Within seconds, Blizzard whirled through the ground and covered everybody in snow. A few Hurlocks were immediately turned into ice boulders and smashed by the fighters on the ground. It continued to blow for the next five minutes and allowed the Gwarenian's to take advantage of the situation to cut down the darkspawn numbers.

"NICELY DONE!" Jethro shouted toward the mage over the loud explosion down in the clearing.

The earth quaked more vigorously. Two huge ogres soon turned the corner and sprung into view. One of them even wore a full suit of armor. Several fighters and a Templar followed behind them, trying their best to scythe their blade into the monsters' thick skin while fending off the other darkspawn around them. Jethro knocked two arrows and fired them across the clearing below. One of them missed slightly and thunked into the ground not very far from a grimacing Hurlock, the other one pierced through a Genlock's chest. The Chasind whistled victoriously, knocked anther two arrows and shot again. This time, they both hit their targets dead on.

Levyn inhaled deeply. He gathered the mana within him, feeling them whirled around his gut, before lashing them out and turned them into an Arcane Bolt. The blood mage shot the Bolt at as many darkspawn as he could, and watched in tremendous satisfaction as the magic hit them right on the chest.

More explosions lit around them, this time closer to the gate. Leaning over the battlement's stone edge, Levyn and Jethro saw Wolf the Templar wave his heavy longsword, lashing out at two Genlocks. Silver aurora burst from his body, knocking out the darkspawn around him. The armored ogre roared and swung its arms, tossing two soldiers into the air and punching them before they landed back to the ground. The sound of their backbones breaking could be heard across the clearing. Some commotion stirred near the bridge. The mage lifted his head up slightly, just in time to glimpse blurry blue armor in the midst of the fights. His eyes narrowed instantly.

He recognized that armor.

It was that talking darkapawn.

"Get the gate open!" the creature barked. "You two get get the bloody gate open!"

"They gonna go to the gate!" Wolf yelled out. "Stop the Ogres!"

Archers immediately aimed most of their arrows at the giant beasts. The Chasind mages fired whatever spells they could think of at the monsters. Jethro swung the bow toward his back and unsheathed his shortswords.

"Extreme circumstances require extreme measures," said the Chasind coolly. "Cover me. I'm off."

"Wait, wait, wait, where—!" Levyn's eyes widened as Jethro leaped over the stone edge and off the battlement: "WHAT? Are you crazy? Jethro!"

But the Chasind logger was already in mid air. Next thing they saw, he was on one of the ogres' back, with his blades scythed deep into its flesh. The ogre bawled and began to try its best to shake him off. Jethro steadied himself and withdrew another dagger from his belt. He sought the soft area on the base of the monster's skull and stabbed it vigorously with his switchblade. The giant growled. Its eyes rolled up and it toppled over, dead on its back.

The crowd cheered, the talking darkspawn sneered, and the Chasind logger spent a few brief moments bowing to the surrounded spectators before dodging the remaining armored ogre's fist. He waved his swords elegantly, springing on his heels and avoiding being hit by an Alpha Genlock's spell while slashing away several Hurlocks in a roll. Nearby, Wolf resumed his fight with the darkspawn. A couple of Chasind mages cast Flame Blast and Winter's Grasp at the tainted monsters. The pace for them to attack the gate slowed down.

Levyn's staff crackled and humming in red light. He closed his eyes and murmured the incantations under his breath. When his eyes snapped open again, a stone fist flew across the clearing and smash onto the Ogre's chest. The beast staggered and roared. It picked up a large boulder next to its feet and tossed it toward the blood mage. The mage jumped aside and the stone hit the watchtower instead, smashing the tower into pieces. The giant creature threw another one; this time, it missed him but hit Kayden head on. The Gwarenian guard was hammered under the heavy rock, trembling for a moment before stopped moving completely.

"Good boy!" The talking darkspawn laughed wickedly, bloodshot eyes glittering with pride. "Now get the gate!"

Levyn cursed. His mana was getting low and, by the looks of it, the men at the gate had started to show signs of exhaustion. It was impossible they could hold on much longer. His hand slipped into his sleeve and grasped the small dagger inside tightly. There were at least three Templars on site, not to mention half a dozen potential eyewitnesses down there. But like last time in the Tower, there wasn't really much option left.

"Andraste as my witness, this is for the greater good! I've asked none, nor gained anything from what I'm about to do!" he mumbled to himself before he withdrew the dagger from his sleeve and stabbed his hand. Blood began to gush out from the gash and dribbled onto the stone floor. Levyn quickly drew a rune circle on the floor and started to recite the ancient Tevinter chants.

The blood trail on the stone surface began to bubble and boil. The area within the circle started to shake People around it slowly backed away, showing certain degrees of uncertainty and fear upon their faces. Light as red as blood beamed out from the ring, followed by an ear-piercing shriek. A dragon conjured of blood that was the same as those on the cobblestone floor, came to life and leaped out. It flapped its wings, gave Levyn a sharp look and scanned the battlefield before letting out another shriek and dived toward the darkspawn below.

It was the Blood Dragon, the ultimate summoning that could only be called by a skilled blood mage.

The dragon tilted its head and opened its jaws wide. Black ill winds hushed out from the mouth, and the next thing every darkspawn in the battle were collapsing on the ground and writhing in pain. Blisters appeared on their skin and broke rapidly. Blood bursting out of those sores was boiling hot and inflicted pain way beyond any weapon could cause. Small size Hurlocks soon began to cough out more heated blood and died, without any of the men even laying a finger on them.

The summoned creature circled around the clearing, sending more foul winds and inflicting more pain on the remaining darkspawn. Now the Genlocks began to crumple at an alarming rate. The armored ogre covered his head from more wind and roared. Seizing this chance, Wolf and Jethro ran forward and waved their swords toward the giant. It barely had enough energy to defend itself, and the giant was down within minutes.

The talking darkspawn staggered back. He cast a horrified look at the blood dragon in the air before moving onto Levyn on the wall.

"YOU!" he snarled: "You ruined _everything_! The Scholar will remember this! He never forgets what's his! Mark my word!"

The gem at the tip of his magic staff grew brighter and covered the darkspawn's entire body. When the blinding light vanished, the creature was gone. The dragon continued to fly around them for a while before returning to the wall. It leaned its head toward Levyn's outstretched hand for a second before it also vanished in the air completely, as if it had never been there. For a moment, the crowd's eyes remained fixed on the spot where the dragon had just disappeared. They were silent, and seemed unable to believe it was finished.

Then an earth-shattering cheer erupted.

They had defeated their first ever darkspawn attack! The joyous Gwarenian threw their helmets in the air, hugged each other and were in tears. It was their first victory, first since the Blight was ended and with such odds against them, they did not expect to win in the first place!

The gate opened and the men paraded in, all smiles, and some even started to sing. Someone shouted the local tavern would have ales on tap all night and everything in there would be free. Levyn came down the stairs, only to be clasped by no other than Jethro, who nearly squeezed every single bit of air out his lungs.

"Well done, mate!" the Chasind roared. "We've done it! I can't believe it! We fended off those sodding darkspawn!"

"Next time you want to jump off the wall, please give me a little warning, thank you very much!" The blood mage shook his head. "My heart nearly stopped beating altogether!"

"Sorry!" Jethro grimaced. "Well, it turned out alright at the end, I must say! And you…Maker's breath. You are indeed more dangerous than you look!"

Wolf the Templar, who happened to usher past by two other fighters on that precise moment, suddenly jerked his head around and gave Levyn a thoughtful side glance. Levyn's heart nearly missed a beat. _What was going to happen now? Will they knock down the Chasind's door and arrest me? Or will they execute me on the spot? _

"Better get back to check on Tabi and Boo, aye?" Unaware of the wordless interaction that had just passed between the Templar and the mage, the Chasind buried his knuckles in his eyes. "Gwen and the girl, too. Let's hope she got something for us to stuff our face. I am starving!"

* * *

The girl was still unconscious when they returned to the house. Her breathing seemed to be more at ease, so did her temperature. Looked like the exorcism Wolf did before the attack worked. Gwen had changed her bandages and the torn dress. So she looked a lot better under the flickering light.

Tabi flung her arms around Jethro tightly the moment he entered the room. She had already cooked up something by the fire and opened a few barrels of ales from their basement.

"Well done. I heard what happened at the gate." She briefly dabbed the corner of her eyes with her sleeve. " Please think about me and Boo the next time you are about to do something rash."

"Extreme measures, my love!" Jethro looked at his wife lovingly.

"Oh, yeah!" Tabi arched her eyebrow. "Try to explain that to Boo."

"Looks like all is in order." Gwen stood up from the stall near the fire. "Suppose I better head to the Chantry to see the Revered Mother. Must have a word with her about the girl."

She gingerly brushed the drapes of her dress and grabbed the walking stick by the wall. Jethro quickly opened the wooden door and waited for the old lady to exit. As she walked by Levyn, she paused and regarded the blood mage a few seconds.

"Quite a spectacular performance you gave out there, I was told." She grinned. "It's been a while since we last had a blood mage in our city."

"Arh…" Levyn's face whitened. He stared at the village elder helplessly; unsure what else he supposed to say.

"Don't worry, young man!" The wrinkles around Gwen's eyes deepened. "I think under the circumstances we had tonight, none of us would care much about what you are. You saved our city. That is something the Chantry cannot overlook. Besides, the new Teyrna had kind of given out orders to all Templars not to pursue any apostate."

"The what?" Levyn's eyebrows nearly shot through the ceiling.

"Oh, haven't you heard?" Jethro smiled at him: "Gwaren was appointed a new Teyrna a few months ago, armh…after the Blight was ended."

"Alright…" Levyn eyed the Chasind uncertainly: "And who's this lovely new Teyrna of yours?"

"She's any elf!" Boo's cute little voice piped up. "An elven lady!"

"A what?" The blood mage jerked his head toward the little boy and back to the Chasind and the elder.

"Yep, she's the first elven Teyrn in the history!" Tabi enthused: "Teyrna Neph Surana."

* * *

**Somewhere in the Deep Roads **

The talking darkspawn writhed on the ground and screamed in pain. A faint layer of lightening cloaked the creature, zapping the life out of its tainted soul.

"For…forgive me! Scholar…." cried the darkspawn.

"I do not tolerate mistakes," a voice, filled with anger and cruelty, croaked from the darkness nearby. "And you made two in the course of one day. Now you are begging for forgiveness?"

"I am…sorry, Scholar…." The darkspawn continued to twitch.

"A girl snatched from under your nose, when you were given the best contingent, you are begging for forgiveness?"

"No…I…."

"Unable to take a city and lost all your comrades, and yet you are asking for forgiveness?" The voice continued to hiss. "Oh, no, I don't think so."

"No…."

"I must say, I am most displeased." The coldness in the voice sent prickles down his spine: "I must say…I simply cannot forgive, nor forget your performance today. _You_, will be punished severely, _you_, will suffer for your mistake, and _you_, will feel my wrath!"

Something cracked and flew toward the darkspawn. The lightening around the creature grew stronger. The tainted beast shrieked, trembling in greater pain.


	4. Chapter 4

**Dragon Age: Origin **

** Levyn **

** Chapter Four – Gwaren, Gladys **

_ Blood._

_There was blood everywhere._

Her clothes, the decorations, the fine tablecloths, the food…

_The ground, and those who were laughing and gulping ale down their throats just a moment ago…_

_They were all silent now, torn to shreds and scattered across the blood-spattered ground. Their soulless eyes stared into the grayish sky._

_She sat on the floor, her back tightly against a large wooden chest, slowly regarded her surroundings, and her lungs grasped for more air. _

_No, this cannot be happening._

_Nearby, something was moving. Something so bizarre, it could only exist in her dreams. But they were there, baring their jagged teeth, and laughing wickedly as they munched away the flesh, flesh of those who were once sitting beside her, of those who were screaming in utmost fear, of those who were running for their dear life. _

_Panting, her eyes were widened with fear. Tears began to trickle down her cheek. What are those things?_

_The creature picked up a dead man's arms; its mouth tore away a large chunk of meat. It made a chewing noise as it gulped down the remains, as if it was laughing. Her stomach turned. _

_Another monster, slightly bigger, presumably the creature's companion, straightened up from hovering over a gutted cow and jerked its head toward her direction. Its mouth, opened almost from ear to ear, was dribbling blood and its jutting teeth had the intestines of the poor animal stuck between them. It grunted at the smaller one for a few seconds before scanning around the farm again._

_Looking like it was searching for another corpse to feed on. _

_Her back went stiff. _No, please, Spirit of the Forest, show mercy, don't let them notice me…

_Too late, the monster's bloodshot eyes locked onto hers. Something flickered in its eyes. The corner of its mouth twitched. It turned around and started to walk toward her._

_She crawled backward helplessly, as her legs were now too frightened to hold her body up properly. _

"_No…" She shook her head slightly as the beast crept up on her, its hand outstretched, covered with dirt, torn flesh and blood. _

"_No…" Her hands waved in front of her powerlessly as the monster's long nails reached for her._

"_NO!" _

* * *

"NO!"

Her shriek broke the silence in the house. The heartbroken and horrified scream lasted for quite some time before anyone managed to approach her and calm her down. For a while, she was sitting in bed upright, hands pulling her long hair as she shook her head violently and screamed.

In the total darkness, shuffling noises and footsteps came from every direction. Vaguely she heard people talking as they came near her. _No, are they those monsters again?_ She began to wave her arms aimlessly, trying to repel those invisible beings around her. Those horrible gulping sounds still echoed in her ears. Their evil shadows still hovered over her, waiting to tear off bits of her flesh. She could still remember the awful drilling pain inflicted upon her when they dug out her eyes. She thought she had died a thousand times, and a thousand times she wished she could simply just die.

She continued to screech, continued to shake, until someone grabbed her shoulders and gently gathered her into their arms: "Ssssh… you are safe now, girl. You are with us. No one is going to harm you."

It took her awhile to finally stop screaming, and another while for her body to finally stopped shivering.

"What… you are not… those things?" Sobbing, she could not believe what she heard: How could that be possible?

"No, we are not," the voice replied calmly. It sounded like it came from a human. A woman, to be exact.

"Huh…" She tilted her head, as if trying to figure out if the woman was lying or she was dreaming.

"Now, what is your name, girl?" the woman asked.

"You really are not one of them?"

"No, we are not." The woman's voice was full of sympathy. "There, put your hands here." She placed the hands on her face. "Feel it. Does it feel like darkspawn to you?"

She twitched her fingers and felt the soft skin under her fingers. No, they weren't rough, or sticky in blood. It was a face of a normal person.

"Those were…darkspawn?"

"Yes, dear."

"And they are not here?"

"Nowhere near." She heard a hint of smile in the woman's voice: "So there is no need to fret, aye?"

"Right… My name is Gladys." she told the woman hesitantly.

"It's a beautiful name!" The woman responded. "Now, my name is Tabitha. They called me Tabi. You are a Chasind, are you?"

"Yes."

"And you were going to marry one of the Waverly boys?" Tabi asked.

"…Yes. Where am I?" She gathered she was no longer in that blood-drenched farm.

"You are in Gwaren. Levyn here managed to save you before they took you back to their lair," Tabi answered.

"Hi, Gladys." Another male voice chimed in. "I am Levyn."

"You…saved me…" Gladys cocked her head sideways, trying to focus on the man's voice. He sounded like a nice person: "From those…dark…spawn?"

"Snatched you, more like," Levyn chuckled softly. "But yes, I managed to steal you out from under their noses and got away."

Gladys' mouth twitched slightly. "Is there anyone else you managed to…snatch?"

"No. I'm afraid not." Levyn's voice saddened. "You are the only one at that farm alive. Everyone else is dead."

The Chasind girl's shoulders deflated. "No… no one…"

"Yes, I am sorry." His voice sounded apologetic.

"No…it's…" Gladys sighed. Her mouth sagged. Suddenly, she felt as if all the energy had drained from her body.

"Well, dear." Tabi pawed the Chasind girl's hand. "The most important thing is that you are alive now, and you are safe. Let's not dwell about other things, shall we? Now I must get someone to inform the Revered Mother that you are awake. She's been concerned about you ever since we brought you back from that place."

Something small and tiny touched Gladys' hand, and nearly sent her into another screaming hysteric. "Lady."

"Oh, I nearly forgot." Tabi's warm voice was full of love. "This is my little man, Boo. Boo, this is Gladys."

"…Lady?"

For the first time since she woke up, the Chasind girl's face broke into a small grin. "Hello, Boo."

"Lady cry?" The little voice was perched at the edge of the carpet: "Lady hurt?"

"I was," Gladys reached out her hand and found the little boy's. "But not as much as I used to. Don't worry."

The Chasind girl heard Tabi turn and speak to Levyn: "If you don't mind, Levyn, can you go to the Chantry to tell the Revered Mother this wonderful news?"

"Huh…" Levyn sounded reluctant. Gladys frowned. _ Why_?

"Don't worry. She won't do anything," Tabi assured him. "You have my word."

"…Very well, I'll go."

* * *

Levyn closed the door behind him and sighed. It had been a while since he last walked into a Chantry, let alone actually talked to a Revered Mother. The whole Lily incident left him with certain degree of fear every time he went anywhere near a Chantry. Maybe they knew each other and would judge him harshly if he ever faced one?

Lily.

He felt sorry every time he thought about her. There was a period of time that she was his life! Her every move, every word, and every smile tugged his heartstrings as no one else had previously done. Her very existence brightened his otherwise dark days within the Tower. He adored her. He would not want to go anywhere else but simply stayed by her side. He believed she felt the same.

Until that disastrous day.

Knowing how much she disliked blood magic, Levyn hid his practice from the Chantry girl, just like he did to Neph. Even when she discovered what Irving and the Chantry planned to do, to make him Tranquil, to leave him less than who he was… a person without emotions, even when she told him in a panic and advised they should flee the Tower, even when….

Even when they stood in front of the First Enchanter and the Templar-Commander.

He knew it. He knew as his blood splashed towards them, his relationship with Lily was over. As they glared at him in shock, he could sense something cracked behind their eyes. He had betrayed them, betrayed their trust. And there was no way he could repair what he had done, making things what they used to be. As he ran away from the Tower, his heart ached from the guilt that he had hurt them so badly. In the name of Andraste and all things Holy, he would do anything to gain their trust back.

But it was too late. Lily was now probably in Aeonar, and it took Levyn another long while, plus several other bad decisions to bump into Neph again.

He stood at the end of the alleyway and watched the hustle and bustle of the town square. His mind riddled with thoughts. How could everything gone so horribly wrong?_ How many more people would he hurt because of his mistake?_

He walked across the town square and up a set of stone steps. On the top of the stairs set Grwaren's Chantry. Built with rocks and the best timber in this area, the building was one of the most solid structures in the city. The blood mage strolled slowly toward the heavy wooden door, stared at the beautifully crafted wrought-iron bands blankly for a few minutes before placing his hands on the door handle, and bracing himself to step into a Chantry for the very first time in years.

Someone tapped Levyn's shoulder. He turned around, only to see Wolf. The sulking Templar stood behind him, his brown curly hair wafting in the wind.

"Oh, hi." The blood mage smiled politely. "I am just—"

His words were cut off abruptly when the Templar grabbed him by his collar. He was dragged into a small corner next to the Chantry and shoved up against the wall. The Templar's elbow pushed tightly against his neck, causing him to have some trouble breathing.

Wolf's face was inches away from him. "I'm afraid I am not in the mood of any usual chit-chat …i _Jowan_./i"

Levyn's face whitened. "I … have no idea what—"

"Oh, I believe you do, _Jowan_." The Templar's dark auburn eyes narrowed. His hot breath blew onto the blood mage's face. "Don't assume Gwaren is a remote place and that the Teyrna in charge here ordered the Templars not to hunt maleficars or apostates, or that no one will know who you really are. I know who you are and I know what you did at the Tower. Because of you, my little sister Lily is now locked away in Aeonar for the crime she wasn't even aware of and no longer recognizes any of her family members!"

Levyn was completely gobsmacked. "You are…you are…Lily's…"

"Oh, yes. I am Lily's brother, her only surviving family member after the Blight!" Wolf whispered angrily. "And I will never, ever forgive what you had done. You had no idea…my sweet sister Lily."

"I'm…. I'm…"

"Do you have any idea how long it took me to track down my sister's whereabouts? Most Templars and mages in the Tower were either dead during the Uldred's upheaval, or the Blight. When I finally managed to find her…"

"I'm sorry, Wolf," Levyn blurted. "I have no idea…"

"Oh, you don't, do you?" Wolf laughed sarcastically. "You shouldn't even…even have gotten involved with her in the first place! Don't think because both the Revered Mother and the Teryna are on your side and you are all clear. I will keep my eyes on you. If I ever see you use the forbidden art on something sinister, I swear to the Maker you will wish you had never been born!"

And just like that, the Templar suddenly released the blood mage, leaving him collapsing onto the floor, gagging for air as he stormed off.

Levyn rubbed his neck as he stared at the back of the Templar. _Lily's brother_? Who would have known?

At least he knew what happened to Lily now. But would that make his quilt ease the slightest at all? She was in Aeonar and went insane because of what he'd done. _Maker, please stopped punishing those around me, punished me instead._

He sighed, got back to his feet and straightened his robe. The blood mage pushed the Chantry's door open and stepped in.

The Chantry was slightly different then what he remembered. First, there was definitely no moldy smells that filled your nostrils and nearly suffocated you. Instead, the whole place was scented in some unknown flowers. The stone floor was well polished, so much so he saw his own reflection. Bookshelves and lit candles lined the walls — that part didn't changed – while a white marble statue of Andraste stood at the end of the aisle.

There were a few people inside as he entered; most of who recognized him as the mage who helped them defeat the darkspawn attack. They gave him a slight nod and a smile as he went past.

He found the Revered Mother in a small study at the end of the Chantry. She was talking to a Knight… from the Teryna's residence, perhaps. A Templar was standing by the door. Levyn noticed Wolf wasn't there. Levyn was relieved. He wadn't ready to face the Templar yet, and after their minor confrontation just before he came in, he wouldn't think Lily's brother was ready either.

"You must be Levyn." The Revered Mother beamed as he approached, opened her arms and gave him a warm hug (while the blood mage, unused to the customs, blushed slightly in her arms). She was a bit younger than the one he had pictured in his head. Well, the only one he knew was the one who looked after him before he was sent to the Tower and she was damn old and wrinkly.

"Revered Mother." The mage bowed, with arms crossed in front of his chest.

"I've heard so much about you from Gwen and Jethro. I must say I cannot thank you enough for aiding us in our town's most recent darkspawn attack!" The Revered Mother smiled, "It was common knowledge that our town did not even have enough man power to defend the city. If it weren't you and several other brave souls, Gwaren would be overrun by those dark creatures by now."

"You are too kind, Revered Mother." Levyn inclined his head.

"Gwaren welcomes you, my child." The Revered Mother waved her hands gracefully. "I do not care what you are, as I can see your pure soul and good intention to put your ability to good use. As long as you are here, you will be safe. I speak for both the Chantry and the Teryna."

"Where is the Teryna at the present?" Levyn couldn't help but hoping he could meet his childhood friend again.

"She's in Denerium at the moment." The Revered Mother waved her hand and gestured one of her initiates over, asking him to make some tea. "There are just so many thing to do after the Blight. She will stay there for about a year or two before returning to Gwaren."

"I see."

"Now you must be here because of the Waverly girl." The smile on her face faded slightly. "How is she?"

"She's great," replied Levyn. "Actually, she just had woken up."

"Is she indeed? That's wonderful news!" The Revered Mother walked near the door and exclaimed loudly to the statue outside. "Thank the Maker! Bless you!"

"She still seems to be shaken by the ordeal, however."

"Of course." Revered Mother turned around and faced Levyn again. "Any poor suffering soul would. Now, I must spare some time to visit her myself. I was told she's a Chasind, yes?"

"Yes, she is, Revered Mother." The blood mage inclined his head.

"What was her name?"

"Her name is Gladys, Revered Mother."

"Very well." The lady shook her head. "Tell Jethro to feel free to come to ask should they need anything. As far as I am aware, they are not the richest people in this place. I shall be visiting them first thing tomorrow."


	5. Chapter 5

**Dragon Age: Origin **

** Levyn **

** Chapter Five – Darkness, Gladys **

_ It was that laughter again. _

_The snorting kind of laughter, like a child trying to laugh with a mouth full of food._

"_Hung-hung, hung-hung, hung-hung."_

_Her blood coiled, her heart tightened. Gripped with fear, she spun around, trying to distinguish where the sound was coming from. _

_But she couldn't see, nor feel anything. She could only hopelessly listen as the dark, malevolent mirth approached…_

* * *

Gladys gasped and sat up abruptly, her arms outstretched, as though trying to grab something. It took the Chasind girl a few minutes to register that she was no longer asleep. Slightly tricky these days, as her eyes now were just two empty sockets and could no longer function like they used to. Awake and sleep, day and night had become indistinguishable. She had to rely on her ears to determine her surroundings. In the first few days, every single little sound around her made her flinch. She was confined to her bed, refused to go anywhere and screamed, according to Tabi, almost every night in her sleep.

The Revered Mother visited her the very evening she regained consciousness. Her voice sounded calm and comforting, giving Gladys a certain degree of relief from the trauma she had endured. Apparently, they did something to _contain_ the taint she contracted from the darkspawn that attacked her. It slowed down the process of turning her into a ghoul, but it could not cure her completely. She would still suffer nagging nightmares and searing pain in every nerve of her body whenever a darkspawn drew near, however. Eventually, the taint would catch up to her, and then they might have to kill her.

_How promising_, thought the girl, _saved me from the grasp of those darkspawn, only to realise I will eventually became one of them._

Not that she had many _promising_ options anyway. She should have realised that when her father sold her to that wealthy Gwarenian logging family, shouldn't she? Several seasons without getting any decent food, livestock was getting thin. their usual hunting area was being dominated by the darkspawn, plus her mother had been sick for ages. It was the last resort. Gladys could still remember his reluctance as he came to the conclusion, his slumped shoulders when he waved off the wealthy family's courier after dropping off the money and the day when he delivered her to at the farm gate, his dark face forced into a fake smile against the morning sun.

_ "Now, remember, be a good wife, kiddo." She had looked up into his face, lined by the years and miles of his life as his big, rough hands covered hers. "Northerners are a lot different in some ways. It will take you some time to get used to. But do not despair, everything well turn out all right at the end."_

"_Papa…" Gladys sobbed. It would be the last time they ever saw each other again, they would be heading up north, looking for some decent doctors to have a look at Mother's sickness. The family had paid well. They might have some spare coins to last until next season._

"_There, there. Don't get all depressed, Gladys." Father touched her cheek lovingly, wiping off the tears. "After all, it's your wedding day! May you have a long, joyful and content life, my Dot."_

_They embraced the one last time. And Gladys watched her dear papa, on the horseback, disappeared into the mist of the forest. His back hunched slightly, and he suddenly looked older than he already was. _

Gladys waited until her ragged breath returned to normal. She brought her knees toward her chest and tucked them under her chin, listening carefully to the sounds surrounding her. She determined from the birdsong outside her window that it must been early in the morning. Tabi would be up and busy preparing breakfast any time now. Very soon the rest of the household would wake up, and one of them would come upstairs to check to see if she was up. Usually it would be Levyn, the mage who saved her life.

Levyn.

The Chasind girl frowned slightly. Now that mage, according to the townsfolk who chatted a little bit too loudly outside the house the other day, was a blood mage. She had no idea what a blood mage should look like, but he certainly didn't sound like one. Since she woke up, he had done nothing harmful to her but assisting her whenever he could. The only magic he had used was healing magic to attend to her wounds. They were mostly healed now, except for her eyes. No magic could repair such damage.

She couldn't help but beslightly curious about him. What did he look like? He told her he was a northerner and grew up in a mage Tower. What was he doing in the middle of the Brecillian Forest? She noticed occasionally, there was a certain hint of regret and despair in his tone. Usually, these moments passed quickly, and Levyn would try to cover them up afterwards. What had happened to him in the past?

There was a small knock at the door, soon a familiar voice came from the other side: "Gladys? Are you up?"

"Levyn?" Gladys lift her head. "Yes."

"Good morning." The blood mage's voice was all smiles. "Tabi's breakfast should be ready soon."

"Okay."

"You will join us downstairs?" asked Levyn.

"Yep." Her arms tightened around her legs a little more.

"Give us a yell if you got lost and need help." The voice remained behind closed door. "Or change your mind."

"I will."

His footsteps echoed through the outside hall and slowly faded, indicating the mage was headed back downstairs. Gladys inhaled deeply, uncurled her legs and slowly placed them at the edge of the bed. She stretched out her hands and carefully searched for the rough direction of the exit. Once certain there was no obstacle, she gathered her courage to stand up and stepped forward cautiously.

By the time she managed to reach the dining area downstairs, breakfast was already started. The room was full of noises. Smells of honey and porridge filled the room. Gladys' hand tentatively stretched forward, and realised she was being hugged by something small at her waist.

"G'lady." It was Boo. His little voice was full of delight and contentment. The Chasind girl grinned. She reached down and felt his soft, small and chubby hands. The little boy giggled, squeaked excitedly, and started mumbling baby talk.

"Huh, Gladys, you're here." Jethro's mouth was stuffed with food. " How are you this morning?"

"I am quite well, thank you." Gladys smiled.

"Just back from the morning fish market down at the docks, you see." Jethro swallowed the porridge in his mouth. "Lots of people over there today. Apparently, Denerium was nearly torched to the ground after the Blight, suddenly timber…wait, no, i_everything_/iwas in high demand. Got a bit of extra coin from the batch I sold this morning!"

"That's wonderful," Grinned the Chasind girl, allowing Boo to drag her toward the table. Levyn drew a chair near and guided her to sit.

"Some porridge, Gladys?" asked Tabi.

"Yes, please." Gladys turned her head towards the Chasind woman's direction.

"With honey?"

"That would be lovely, thank you, Tabi," the girl nodded.

"Now you are being too polite." Tabi busied herself with dishing out the porridge. "Has Jethro told you I get rashes if someone's being to polite to me? Don't worry about the manner in this house. We Chasind never pretend to have the social graces of nobles. Doing so is bad for our health." She laughed.

"Who would have known, aye?" The Chasind logger asked his wife for another bowl of porridge. "We actually earn more after that sodding Blight than we used to. Arh…that should be sufficient for us to stay in Gwaren for a little while. A year or two, maybe."

"What?" Levyn's voice piped up. "I was under the impression you only stay for the off season?"

"No, no, mate!" Jethro replied."Not this time. If I am a single free lad, maybe. But not when I have my Tabi and Boo to worry about."

"What do you mean?" The blood mage's voice sounded concerned.

"While in the market, I heard something." Jethro began to spoon food inside his mouth again. "Something dodgy outside."

"Define 'dodgy.'"

"Those darkspawn," said the logger grimly. "More have been sighted."

"More?" said Gladys and Levyn in unison.

"Oh yes." Jethro nodded. "And it's not just one or two, it's increased into packs of them. Several places, where those creature had never been seen before, are suddenly infested with those sodding things."

"They are going to attack Gwaren again any time soon, are they?" the mage asked.

"Not sure, mate." Jethro shrugged. "At the moment they are just wandering around the forest, attacking lone travelers or animals, doing what they do best. But I reckon it would only be wise to stay in the city for a little longer. I don't trust those dodgy creatures."

"That kind of explained why the city is suddenly getting a lot more people over the last couple of days," said Tabi thoughtfully. "I bumped into Orphee. She was actually complaining to me that her tavern was completely full!"

"And it's not just that." Jethro bent over, picked up Boo and placed him on his lap. "There was something else."

"What else?" Tabi asked.

"The talking darkspawn." The Chasind logger rubbed his stubble chin. "Apparently, we weren't the only ones who've seen them."

"What?" Gladys felt blood drained from her face. "They…talk?"

"Some of them do," Levyn explained. "There was one at the farm when I found you, asking who took your eyes. It seemed that they weren't suppose to do it."

"How comforting," mocked the Chasind girl sarcastically. "Nice to know some of them are willing to treat their hostage with some civility."

"Here we thought the Blight was finished," Tabi sighed. "What do we know, aye? Where else those talking thing being spotted?"

"Near Amaranthine. Vigil's Keep. The Gray Warden's new base," Jethro replied, "It was attacked last week."

"Oh, Spirit of the Forest!" his wife gasped. "Are they all right?"

"Nearly blood-soaked the place," the Chasind logger grunted. "Luckily, the Warden Commander, our Teryna, happened to be there, so she and some recruits managed to get rid of them."

"Neph…was there?" Levyn murmured. Gladys cocked her head sideways and frowned slightly. The blood mage seemed to know the Teryna very well, well enough to call her by her first name. She was told the Teryna was also a mage. Perhaps they knew each other? Then she must know what Levyn was like before he left the Tower.

"Humph." The Chasind logger finished his breakfast and started chewing the end of a toothpick. "I think I'd better go to the Chantry to have a look to see if there is any notice on the Chantry board. Let's hope the Revered Mother is aware of the situations and having them taken care of. You coming, Levyn?"

"I'll pass this time," said Levyn politely. "I need to go to the afternoon market later to buy some elfroot. Supplies are running low. I will stay in the house for a while. And I've got some potions to brew, as well. Plus," his voice turned toward Gladys. "Got to do her daily healing sessions."

"…You don't really have to do that," Gladys blushed, feeling as if her face was on fire. "I feel a lot better now. As for my eyes….they aren't going to return to normal. You can't make them grow back."

"You still suffering from the nightmares, aren't you?" Asked Levyn gently. "The healings help you sleep better. I must apologise, if my ability was stronger, it wouldn't take this long."

"You already done enough, Levyn," Gladys smiled. "You saved me."

"Anyone would do that." Levyn sounded slightly embarrassed. "I happened to be there, that's all. Couldn't let them drag you back to the Deep Roads."

The Chasind girl's smiled deepened. "Nevertheless: Thank you."

"Let's….let's see what I can do today, aye?" The blood mage pushed himself away from the table and stood up.

Tabi dragged Boo away to feed the chooks at the back of the hut. The mage found a spot by the fire and guided Gladys to sit. The Chasind girl felt him slowly undone the bandages wrapped around her face, revealing what was underneath.

"How do I look?" asked Gladys half-jokingly.

"You look great." The blood mage chuckled. "Now, let me know if you feel any discomfort."

The Chasind girl nodded, allowing Levyn's fingers to touch her forehead. She heard some crackles and felt a familiar sensation ripple over her head; like someone cracked open an egg and its contents were slowly dripping down from the top of her head. The feelings gradually turned warmer and cloaked her entire body. The warm currents tickled every corner within her. Gladys' lip curled up.

It felt quite good, whatever this healing thing was.

"How are you faring?" The blood mage's lilting voice echoed next to her ears. He sounded tense, probably because of the healing spell he was casting.

"I am all right." The Chasind girl smiled. "Don't worry too much, mage."

The warmth continued to surge through her body in waves. Gladys heard Levyn inhale another breath and cast another round of spells on her. His hands brushed past her forehead briefly. The Chasind girl noticed they began to tremble a little.

"Do you want to stop and take a break?" she asked.

"…After this round…"

"Levyn?"

"Hmm?" The sensation seemed slow down a little. Sounded like his mana was getting dry.

"I heard something from the villagers the other day."

"You've been out?" asked Levyn absently.

"No." The Chasind girl shook her head. "Still unable to work up the courage to do it. Boo did try a few times, doing his best to convince me one of their chickens laid some golden eggs and wanted me to have a look." She chuckled.

The blood mage laughed.

"The villagers," she explained, "they were talking right outside of the hut."

"On purpose," Levyn grunted. "Gossipy types. Okay, what did you hear?"

"You are not only a mage, but a blood mage," Gladys sputtered.

"I am."

"You are?" The Chasind girl was surprised. "But…but…"

"I don't sound like a blood mage?" The rustle of Levyn robe suggested he shrugged: "Well, you aren't the first one who said that. I suppose I am lucky that I am in Gwaren. If it was any other city, the Order would execute me on the spot."

"But I thought…"

"The new king had ordered the Chantry not to?" The mage sniggered. "Do you think the Order of Templars will do as they're told at the snap of his fingers? Nah."

"What so special about the blood mage?" Gladys tilted her head as Levyn stopped the spell. "Why would the Chantry hate them so much?"

"Because of the blood magic." The mage sighed. "Legend has it that it was taught by the demons themselves. It was the blood magic that blackened the Golden City."

"Golden City? You guys?" The Chasind girl's brows shot up.

"Didn't you heard any of the Chantry stories when you were little?" Levyn asked.

"Heard the traveling Chantry sisters talk about it a few times." Gladys frowned. "My father always said they were just stories, don't take it seriously."

"Well, then you know how the Golden City was blackened." The blood mage began wrapping new bandages around Gladys's head. "Unfortunately, the Chantry took those stories very, very seriously."

"But, it should be all right if you use it carefully," Gladys carefully tilted her head to make Levyn's wrapping easier.

"Try telling that to those stubborn Templars," Levyn chuckled. "They believe it cannot be contained. Too dangerous. Shouldn't learn it in the first place."

"That's obscure," Gladys blurted out. "What about those Dalish and Chasind who don't believe in the Maker and the Chantry? What magic is theirs called?"

"Those are apostates," Levyn explained calmly. "They aren't necessarily maleficar, who are—"

"Mages who use forbidden arts," the Chasind finished what Levyn trying to say. "I've been told about it. A very unfair and narrow-minded judgment."

"You tell them," The smile in Levyn's voice thickened: "As I said, fortunately, I am in a city that doesn't really care about that law."

"Is that why you left the Tower?" Gladys asked as she heard the blood mage chucked some more logs into the fire. The wood block made a small clang sound as it hit the other burning wood: "Because you were exposed as a blood mage?"

She heard the man pause, and suddenly worried if she had gone too far, prying into something that he was unwilling to tell. She froze, listened with every pore as Levyn slowly straightened up in front of her. She could not hear anything other than the sound of his robe rustled.

"Yes and no." The mage's voice sounded reserved and more polite than usual. "And I must apologise that I don't really want to talk about it at this point and time. Ask me again in the future, aye?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Dragon Age: Origin **

** Levyn **/

** Chapter Six – Fire, The Children **

**Somewhere in the Deep Road.**

The Scholar paced around his chamber impatiently. Hands clasped behind his back, he muttered something inaudible under his breath. Every now and then, he paused and cast a glance at the few darkspawn that crawled on the floor.

"We need to get her," he murmured thoughtfully. "We need to get her back."

One of his darkspawn minions turned his head, hearing the Scholar's voice. "The girl, Scholar?"

"Yes."

"Why that girl, Scholar, if I may ask?" The darkspawn finally lifted his head up slightly and looked at the Scholar questioningly. " Out of all females on the surface…"

"She's different… she…the ritual has already started on her." The Scholar waved her hands exaggeratedly and resumed quartering the cavern. "We need her—"

"We need her for me!" A small voice hissed inside the cave—a small, unusual infant-like voice that sent a chill creeping down everyone's spine, as a little child at that age shouldn't be able to talk at all. "You promised, my love. You promised!"

"Hush, my sweet," the Scholar replied to the voice softly. "I intend to keep that promise. Don't worry."

"I've been waiting for so long, my love. So long," the voice complained.

"I understand, my sweet." The Scholar hushed quietly. "It won't be too long now."

Fear flickered through the darkspawn's face. He quickly bowed his head back down, his nose nearly touching the ground. His body shivered, seemingly terrified of the presence of the infant voice in the chamber.

"We still have enough troops under our command?" asked the Scholar after a while.

"Yes, Scholar," replied the darkspawn.

"Then do not fail me again." The Scholar retreated to the shadows, his voice ominous. "I will not be so kind next time around."

* * *

"Levyn, are you home, mage?" Tabi shouted excitedly as she entered the door.

"Hi, Tabi." Levyn was by the fire, watching a poultice shimmer as it boiled in the cauldron. He jerked his head up and grinned toward the Chasind woman.

"Have a look at this. Look," Jethro's wife's face was pink. She seemed very thrilled about something. "Ta-da!"

She dragged someone from outside and pointed excessively. The person turned out to be Gladys. Earlier that week, she finally agreed to leave the house for the first time since arriving in Gwaren almost three months ago, to go to the daily market with Tabi and Boo. They were all very excited, as it was a huge improvement for the Chasind girl. Since gaining consciousness after the night the darkspawn attacked, she had restricted her activities from stepping anywhere outside the house. Venturing outside seemed do some good , as her once pale face slowly returned to a normal, healthier colour. Her appearance seemed to be changed, too. By allowing Tabi to do something to her long hair, these days her dark brown curls, which usually covered her face, were braided and tucked neatly behind her ears.

The blood mage straightened up and tilted his head to have a better look at the Chasind girl, whose face was now red as a tomato and kneading her hands awkwardly. The first thing he noticed was the layers of bandages that usually obscured the upper part of her face was gone, revealing her whole face without any cuts and bruises for the first time. Then his glance moved up toward her eyes….

_Wait. _

_Her eyes._

Levyn frowned and moved away from the fire. Gladys' eye sockets no longer looked hollow and gashed. Instead, apart from some mild dark circles, they looked…filled. He looked closer, and realised it was because there was something inside her eyes. They were opaqueish and shimmered in some pearly glow, giving the Chasind girl an otherworldly appearance.

"Your eyes….someone put your eyes back?" The mage's brows shot up.

"No, not exactly." Tabi watched as Boo headed toward the back of the house for some eggs. "They are…er…marbles."

"Marbles?" The blood mage's eyebrows cocked further up.

It turned out they had bumped into Zac, the local Dwarven weaponsmith. The Revered Mother had contacted him and made a request to do something about the Chasind girl's eyes. They wouldn't bring her sight back, but they would make her look less scary. The only reason she still refused to take those bandages off and stepped out of the house in the first place was because she was terrified of what others might think upon seeing two empty sockets on her face.

Zac had done a pretty good job. Not only did these two marbles fit Gladys's eyes perfectly, he also managed to get a senior Chasind mage to enchant the stones, so the taint could be constantly contained without the Chantry or Levyn doing sessions on daily basis. Not that the blood mage was complaining or anything; he honestly wouldn't mind doing it.

As the matter of fact, he rather enjoyed doing it. Despite the incident when she had asked him the true reason why he left the Tower in the first place and he brushed her off politely, he liked talking to her. Her voice soothed him, temporarily released him from the nagging guilt about what he had done and whom he had betrayed. He often found himself wonder, more than once since the girl woke up, what she was like before the farm, when she has eyes and was able to see. What colour were her eyes? What kind of family did she have? How desperate were they to sell their daughter to a completely strange family?

_Has she ever loved someone? _

Of course he wouldn't dare to ask her that. He wouldn't allow himself to ask her that. No, hadn't he hurt enough people already? No, if he had any common sense he would leave, right now. Leave Jethro, Gladys, leave Gwaren, for that matter. He was bad luck. Bad things happened whenever he was around. The darkspawn had attacked the city once already; what else was going to happen if he stayed longer?

Perhaps he should.

The girl was getting better, wasn't she? And she was in good hands. There was really no need for him to dwell within this city anymore. He should leave and head to the wooden hut Morrigan had told him about, or move on to help other travelers on the road.

Boo's excited squeak outside the house suggested Jethro had returned from the market. They all moved toward the table by the fire, while Tabi quickly prepared a light meal for them to eat. Despite her frail frame, Gladys' appetite had been increasing over the last couple of months. After constantly seeing her, red faced, requesting others at the table for leftovers, the Chasind woman decided to cook another separate meal, enough to feed an full grown Templar, for her to eat.

Jethro was also very impressed with Zac's craftsmanship.

"The dwarf's skill is amazing, I assure you that," he gushed after gulping down two bottles of ale. "His family has been here for generations. It is said they were here way before the darkspawn, when the Dwarven Empire still ruled the Deep Roads."

"Him, truly?" Levyn arched his eyebrow. "I think I've read something about that before. Gwaren was built by Dwarves?" He suddenly remembered the faded storybook he and Neph found way at the back of the library when they were young.

"Aye, mate." Jethro waved his fork with bit of meat still attached. "Been here way before Ferelden! Their only surface city! They used it to trade salts with us surfacers. They couldn't produce enough salt down there, you see. Hey, isn't this nug meat?" He frowned at his wife.

"Zac swore you couldn't tell the difference!" Tabi giggled. "I think he ows me some coins!"

"What in Ferelden was he thinking?" The Chasind logger shook his head. "I've been logging out in the forest for years and you think I couldn't tell the difference between meats?"

His wife pouted. "But you don't mind, though?"

"No I , the Chasind man grunted. "Just make sure you put lots of spices in it for seasoning next time you cook them! I can taste dust in my mouth. Now, if you guys excuse me, I need more ale to wash this down!" He stood up, pushed himself away from the table and rushed to the kitchen, with little Boo, somewhat excited, following.

The remaining three in the living room roared with laughter.

"It doesn't taste that bad, Tabi." Gladys smiled. "I've eaten something far worse than that. Mum used to pick those water bugs near the pond for us to eat. "

"That? Those are yummy! Boo loves them!"

The Chasind woman arched her eyebrow. "They taste okay."

"Can you two not gross me out?" Levyn gagged. "Andraste's knickerweasels!"

"You never had any of those while you were in the forest?" Tabi asked.

"NO! I ate normal salt meat and watered down red wines!" the blood mage cried. More laughter ensued.

Gladys decided to return to her room for the evening, saying she might pay Gwen a visit sometime tomorrow. She stood up, managed to find her wooden stick and headed toward the stairs.

Suddenly she froze.

The wooden stick fell and made a loud clatter on the floor. Levyn half turned his head, thinking perhaps she needed help, only to notice her back was as stiff as a timber pole.

"Gladys?"

The Chasind girl did not reply. Staring ahead, her body began to shake uncontrollably.

"Gladys?" Sensing something was wrong, the blood mage left the table and walked toward her. She looked a lot like the night she woke up. Her face was frozen and chalk white. "Gladys, what's wrong?"

"They…they are coming." A meaningless gurgling sound kept bubbling up from her throat. The Chasind girl took a few moments to squeeze the voice out; she looked absolutely terrified, confused and, strangely, as though she craved for something.

"Who's coming?" He touched her shoulders gently.

"The…the thing…the darkspawn." Her lips trembled. " Whole lot of them. They are at the gate….They are coming…no…no…they are coming….they are coming…they are coming to get _me_!"

Somewhere afar, outside the house, a high pitched, blood-curdling shriek broke the evening bliss, followed by someone's painful scream.

Within seconds, the alarm was heard across the entire city.

The darkspawn were here.

* * *

It was a surprise attack. By the time Levyn and Jethro arrived near the entrance of the ally way, the darkspawn had already smashed through the gate and swarm in. Large armored ogres could be seen among a large group of hurlocks and genlocks in the square, tossing people around and smashing buildings. The hideous bug-like darkspawn, which the blood mage saw at the farm, were hopping from the battlements and launching themselves on the terrified people. Their twisted human-like faces snarled and split into four pincers, revealing the skull underneath. They scythed their teeth into their victims' body and tore large chunks of flesh off before devouring their unfortunate prey almost immediately, splattering blood everywhere. There were dying people and dead bodies everywhere on the street.

"Holy spirit of the forest!" Jethro was completely gobsmacked. "What am I looking at here?"

"Maker preserve us." Levyn raised his staff as one of the darkspawn spotted them. "Here they come!"

They managed to fend off a handful of hurlocks and the bug-like things, before a Templar sprung into view, carrying a wounded elf, waving his sword and shield, trying his hardest to shake off a group of three genlocks. _Fingers crackling with magic_, the blood mage fired some arcane bolts toward the Genlocks, knocked one out promptly, while Jethro knocked his arrows and sent several shots through the remaining little beast's chest.

The Templars looked slightly relieved and dragged the injured elf toward their direction. Upon a closer look, the mage realised it was Wolf, Lily's brother.

"Thank the Maker, the lyrium effect on me was running dry…oh, it's you!" His face twisted slightly as soon as he recognised Levyn. "The order has been passed around, we need to pull back to the docks and seal the gate there!"

"Pull back?" Jethro jerked his head around and gaped at the Templar. "Is Gwaren lost?"

"Not yet," said Wolf through the gritted teeth. "There is little time. We can talk about this once we are all behind the gate. Now please make haste, go fetch Tabi and the kid, Jethro! And you," his gloved finger pointed straight at Levyn's nose. "Get Gladys! Hurry!"

"Has he ever called you by name?" Jethro looked at his friend suspiciously after Wolf staggered off with the elf.

"Nope," replied Levyn simply. He nudged the Chasind logger, indicating to head back to the house. The blood mage wasn't really keen to explain to his friend why the Templar refused to address him by his name. Especially in the time like this.

"Humph." The Chasind man cast him a curious glance before increasing his pace and rushing back to his house.

Suddenly, the air around them turned icy cold and stale.

It was very quick, possibly within the matter of seconds. Almost at the same time, Levyn smelled something. Something he smelled not very long before. It was filled with blood and rotten flesh. The kind of air that sent shivers down the back of his neck. He knew this smell.

"Jethro." He grabbed his friend's arm.

"I know." Jethro's eyes narrowed.

Without announcing out loud, both of them held their weapons tighter. It was very quick; they barely had time to breath in and out. Almost in the next second, several ear-splitting cries erupted abruptly around them. Ghasty shadows rose from the ground and launched themselves at the pair. Levyn only just had time to cast a protective Arcane spell around them.

_Maker's breath._

_Sharlocks._

"Jethro, I cannot hold this spell very long." The blood mage watched as the sinister creatures sneered around them, but were unable to touch the pair. "But we can't just go back to the house like this, with all the sharlocks at our tails. We won't make it to the docks with them behind us."

"Leave it to me." The Chasind logger unsheathed two daggers and away he went. His arms waved, his legs moved, his muscled body suddenly became a blur. Like a swift dark wind, he shifted with an elegant grace, darting in and out of the force field. His blades shone under the bright velvet moon, glittering in silver light. They rose and fell, followed by painful screams. The creatures' dark blood spilled and pooled next to their feet. Levyn was in awe, and almost forgot to hold the spell.

"Are you sure you are just a logger?" He eyed his friend suspiciously as he finally stopped and dropped the daggers. They were absolutely surrounded by dead Shrieks.

"When you spend a lot of time in the forest, dealing with wild animals and creature become part of your life. You tend to have plenty of opportunities to practice your skills." The Chasind man inclined his head slightly. "Now we must make haste, before more of them catch up."

"Oh, yes. That's right." Levyn's mind jerked back to the reality. "Come on."

Jethro's wooden hut was in sight. They increased their steps. Suddenly, it was the familiar foul smell again. The Sharlocks had managed to catch up to them. The blood mage cursed, trying to figure out where those things would sneak up this time. He cast a side-glance at his friend, who appeared to think about the same thing.

But it wasn't a Shriek.

A large, shadowy object launched itself on top of Levyn. Completely off guard, he was under the monster the next minute. It clamped its eight spiny legs around the blood mage's arms and chest. Its human like face tilted and glared at him, as if trying to figure out what was so special about its prey.

It was one of the bug-like darkspawn. It stared at him for a while, before grinning at him wickedly. Its already huge mouth split open bigger and wider. At one stage, it began to tear from the nose. The tip of the skin transformed into pincers. The blood mage felt like he was being submerged in a bucket full of ice. His body froze.

"Maker's breath!" he whimpered

The creature sneered and bent its head, ready to feast upon the mage. Suddenly, it went stiff. Before Levyn figured out what had happened, an arrowhead pierced through its chest and inches away from his. The blood mage held his breath for a moment, too scared to move a muscle just in case that arrow sunk a bit deeper.

"Evening, boys." Tabi's voice rose somewhere above them. They both jerked their head up and saw the Chasind woman standing at the second floor's windowsill, eyebrows arched and holding a long bow in her hands, looked deadly fierce and defiant. "Haven't your mothers' told you don't play around outside after dark?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Dragon Age. Origins **

** Levyn **

** Chapter Seven – Behind the Gate, Unexpected **

"Tabi?" Levyn managed to get back to his feet and stared at the Chasind woman in awe.

"What? You think after following a crazy logger in the forest for a while, I wouldn't learn a thing or two about slaying a foe?" She arched her eyebrow defiantly.

"Tabi, my love!" Jethro waved his arms. "Good to see you!"

"Arh, yeah. Good to see you, too. " Tabi withdrew her long bow. "Care to tell me what happened? It seems like those darkspawn are all over the place."

"Pulled back to the docks," the Chasind logger shouted. "They are sealing the gate."

"Lovely." The Chasind woman threw her eyes heavenward. "We are not losing this city, are we?"

"Hell, no." Said Jethro: "Just going there for the time being!".

"Maker's knickerweasels! Wait for me at the chicken coop, then!" She returned to the house. "Boo? Boo, come here. No, those monsters are dead now. Come on…."

"Where is Gladys?" asked Levyn as he entered the door.

"In the kitchen." Tabi tilted her head toward the direction of the door at the back of the house as she literally flew down the flight of stairs with Boo tied at her back. "Went in and haven't seen her move since you guys left."

The blood mage rushed to the room adjacent to the lounge and found her curled between the wall and the food storage cabinet, wide eyed, shaking and looked utterly terrified.

"Gladys." Levyn rushed over and gently put his hand on her shoulder.

She flinched, jerking back from the unknown memory. "Levyn?"

"Yes, it's me." The hand on her shoulder squeezed slightly. "We need to go."

"Are they coming?" Gladys' face was chalk white. "Are they here?"

"Not yet." The blood mage gathered her hands in his. "But we need to go now."

"O…okay." She swallowed. "Levyn?"

"Yes?"

"Don't leave me."

"I won't." Levyn grinned warmly.

The grip on his hands tightened. He pulled her up, slowly led her around the stairs and to the backdoor.

They went past the front door that remained ajar. The moonlight flooded in, coating everything in milky white. In the distance, they could hear screaming, roaring and something explode off in the distance. Gladys stopped and stared at the open door in fear; her body shook, trembling from head to toe. Her hands almost broke Levyn's in half.

"Too…they are so many…so close…" She hesitated, unable to move a single step.

"They are not here." The blood mage assured, urged the Chasind girl to continued on. "Come on."

They managed to get to the chicken coop at the back of the house without running into a darkspawn. When they arrived, they found Jethro was busy unlocking a small door next to the pen. It was obscured by the shed. Unless people knew where to look, there was no way anybody could find it.

"Arh….we are heading to the docks, are we?" Levyn frowned. He thought they were going to go through the thick bushes behind the house.

" We are." Jethro turned his head around and gave his friend a teeth-baring grin. "But unless you enjoyed the lovely darkspawn encounter like we just had in the alley, a short cut is the best way for all of us to reach the docks safely."

"A short cut?" The blood mage arched his eyebrow.

"When we built this hut," Tabi explained, while her eyes remained scanning their surroundings just in case any darkspawn showed up unexpectedly. "We found a small section of underground passage, presumably part of the Deep Roads, that lead to the waterfront. Apparently, there are passages like this everywhere in Gwaren; ours isn't the only one. King Maric used to use them to escape from the West Hill up north!"

"Yeah, I heard the one under Zac's actually leads to the old Gwaren post underground," her husband interrupted. "Of course, he wouldn't acknowledge that. Cheeky bastard. There, door's open. Better hurry."

They quickly entered. Jethro went last and carefully locked the door again behind them. The first few steps were solid timber, presumably built by the logger himself, then about half way down the stair was made from large stones. Some of them were so large; they had to use the rope to climb down. Under the flickering torches, they were carved with ancient Dwarven runes.

"Those used to be boulders that supported the whole Deep Roads." Jethro gave the stone a slight pat as they hopped down the last rock and landed into what felt like a huge hallway. The air was surprisingly fresh. A gentle, salty breeze echoed through the empty cave. Occasionally, there were unidentifiable old skeletons of animals of some kind crumbled at the corners, giving everyone shivers.

"From the looks of it," the Chasind man continued, "those Dwarfs blasted the tunnel off after losing the fight with those creepy thingy, cut this section off from the rest of the Deep Roads. Sodding lucky, if you ask me. I used this to store my logs in winter! Arh….now we can hear the sound of waves in the distance. We are near."

Sure enough, soon they heard the sound of wave splashed on to the seashore. They proceed a bit longer and found themselves standing at a small quay overlooking a large cave that linked to the Amaranthine Ocean. The salty wind tousled their hair. Stacks of wooden logs and crates were piled up near the wharf.

"This way." Quite familiar with the surroundings, Jethro walked up to the cave walls and beckoned them over.

Levyn moved closer and noticed a small, narrow path zigzagging along the high cave wall. Still holding Gladys' hand tight, he followed the Chasind logger onto the path and entered another small, recently dug out passage.

"I dug those." The Chasind logger bragged proudly, carefully waved off the tree roots and spider webs hanging over their heads. "Easier for me to return to our house from the docks after the gate is closed."

"Is that how you managed to sneak around after dark?" Tabi's voice drifted from a few steps behind. "And here I thought your stealth skill was improving."

"My stealth is good." Jethro sniggered. "But you know what Wolf's like after his leave a few months back. Sulking Templars. Can't joke with him anymore."

"Has Wolf always been stationed here?" Levyn couldn't help himself to ask.

"Since he was a young lad, fresh out of the Order!" The Chasind man smiled.

"You make it sounded like you are ancient!" his wife interrupted again. "Don't listen to him, mage. My beloved is only a few years older than him."

"But I am still older!" Jethro complained. "Anyway, he was a much happier lad back then."

"Then what happened?"

"What happened? The sodding Blight happened, mate." The Chasind logger sighed. "I heard almost all of his family were killed during the Blight."

"No, there was still one." Tabi piped up again. "He had a sister. I think she survived."

Levyn's heart jolted. He was thankful that the light in the passage was dim and Gladys couldn't see, because he was sure his face was crimson.

"What…what happened to his sister?" he stuttered.

"Her?" Jethro shrugged. "No one knows. I heard she was missing."

"Missing?"

"No one knew where she went. The only thing they were sure of, was that she didn't die." The Chasind logger continued. "Wolf went crazy. Spending hours writing letters to his mates stationed elsewhere, asking if they knew anything. "

"You guys all happened to know that?" Levyn's brows shot up.

"It's a little bit hard to miss. Words traveled fast. Plus a man in big armour literally chewing nibs and writing letters whenever he goes is quite an interesting sight to watch." Tabi chuckled. "Plus during that time, all he talked about was his little sister…what's her name, Jethro?"

"Arh….Lily. I think her name is Lily." Jethro raised his torch and carefully checked what was ahead of him.

"Yeah, Lily," his wife sighed. "Then one day, I was told he finally got the letter he's been waiting for. Apparently, he finally found her. But he didn't seem happy."

"No," said Jethro from the front. "He sure wasn't. I saw him request a month's leave from the Revered Mother and left Gwaren to Spirits knows where. When he returned from that leave, he had changed."

"Changed?" Levyn asked.

"The smirk that usually hung on his face was gone." Tabi sighed, turned around to check the sleeping Boo on her back. "He withdrew himself from all the Templar social activities and often was found sulking at the top of the battlements. And the sadness in his eyes…. The poor dear."

"Well, he still took his duty seriously, a bit too serious to my liking." The Chasind logger sighed, too. "And he never talked about his sister again; nobody dared to ask."

"So, no one knows what happened to her?" asked Levyn.

"Nop." replied Jethro simply. They had come to the end of the passage. The Chasind logger climbed up a ladder and pushed the hedge door overhead open.

They found themselves emerging from a boating shed not very far from the docks marketplace. Levyn and Jethro rushed toward the gate after settling Tabi, Gladys and Boo at a small fishery shop near the wharf. They found the gate half opened, with at least three Chasind mages and several other loggers, Templars and dwarves standing guard nervously. Wolf and one of the guards were at the battlement, overlooking the other side of the gate.

"You! What did you do?" Wolf nearly tore the poor mage in half as soon as he saw him.

"What, what, what?" Levyn was absolutely bewildered.

"Did you use your…cursed magic to summon that dragon there?" The Templar's trembling finger pointed at a large creature in the air.

Levyn jerked his head up and saw a ghastly purple dragon, the largest he had ever seen, circling in midair just above the town's square. Its scales glittered under the full velvet moon. Its large yellow eyes, as huge as carriage wheels, glared at the darkspawn on the ground with fury. The dragon bared her teeth, snarling toward the crowd, and made a ground-shattering low roar.

"What in the Maker's name was that?" The blood mage's jaw dropped. "It can't be…. a High Dragon? A _High Dragon_ down in the other end of the Brecilian Forest?"

"You did not summon that thing?" Seeing the mage's surprised look made Wolf doubt if the dragon was actually being summoned by any of them.

"I summoned a _Blood Dragon_! A dragon conjured of _blood_!" Levyn smacked his forehead. "That thing out there is a solid dragon, flesh and bone and all! Do we all need to be here if I can summon that thing?"

"He didn't summon the dragon, Wolf." Jethro patted the Templar's shoulder. "He was with me since you last saw us in the alley. And besides, what are you worrying about, looks like that sodding thing is on our side!"

Wolf opened his mouth and was about to snarl something back when he heard the dragon roar again, followed by a heated wind surging past them. He turned his head around just in time to see the beast flex her dark purple talons, as wide as all of Gwaren, and breathe fire at the terrified darkspawn below. Several small Genlocks were burned to crisp in the first round. The Templar tilted his head and was in absolute awe as the sinister creatures below ran for their lives, only a handful of bigger ones dared enough to stay where they were and fight her.

"Speaking of which," the Chasind logger said as he scratched his head. "Aren't you guys supposed to shut the gate? How come it is still wide open?"

"Well, that dragon showed up," the guard standing next to Wolf said. "Then, suddenly, all their attention turned to her. All we need to do is make sure a few small ones don't sneak past. Besides, we have one little problem: The Revered Mother and Gwen are still at the Chantry."

"THEY WHAT?" cried Levyn and Jethro in unison.

"The Revered Mother refused to leave," Wolf grunted. "And Gwen is still there to convince her. Two knights from the Teyrna's residence were there as well, so they are quite safe at the moment."

"Spirit of the Forest! I hope she will come back to her senses soon," the Chasind sighed.

Something dark stirred across the town square. Levyn leaned further against the stonewall, trying to see through the thick smoke and flame. Those figure were dark and looked downright familiar.

"Maker's breath!" he gasped. "Those darkspawn called backup troops!"

"Shit!" Wolf swore and leaned to the wall next to him. "Holy Andraste, there are more coming!"

"The dragon's breath up in the air isn't going to last long." The blood mage started pacing around the wall in circle. "We need to do something to defend this gate before the Revered Mother arrives."

"Can't you do one of those bloody dragon thingy?" Jethro rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"I can. But it's not going to last long either." Levyn sighed.

More noise from the square suggested the darkspawn reinforcements had entered the battlefield and began to shoot arrows at the dragon above. As if sensing the Gwarenian's hesitation, the High Dragon roared, urging them to make haste.

"I can enter the battlefield to buy us some time," a knight nearby piped up.

"Ser Ciaren!" Wolf frowned. "But…"

"Standing around here and letting a dragon do all the work isn't my thing." Ser Ciaren's mouth twitched. "We need you up here, Wolf. But I can go down there."

"Are you sure about this?" The templar looked at the knight warily.

"Yes, I am." He unsheathed his long sword and weighed it in his hand.

"I will go as well," another voice chimed in. Levyn turned his head around and found it was a young Chasind woman, who he noticed was leaning against the wall as they climbed up the battlement. Her long hair was a strange dark blue colour, now tied into a bun on top of her head. One of her eyes was green, while the other was golden.

"Mihi." Jethro was surprised. "I didn't know you were in the city."

"Been here for days." The Chasind woman smiled. "How's Gladys?"

"You know Gladys?" The blood mage's eyebrows shot up.

"Who do you think healed the wounds around her eyes at Zac's?" Mihi grinned.

"You are a mage?" Levyn was surprised.

"Yes." The Chasind mage smiled. "I've heard about your abilities since I came. It will be interesting to see it in person. Now, I must say we have all the time we need to chat about this after those creature down there are gone. I am going down there with Ser Knight."

"My lady!" Ciaren exclaimed. "That's entirely unappreciated, you are a lady…"

"And a mage, just in case you somehow forgot it." Mihi cast a side-glance over at the square. "They are sneaking past, there isn't much time. I am going, Templar, whether you like it or not. You'd better hold this gate tight."

"Wait!" Wolf and Ser Ciaren both cried out before the Chasind mage waved her staff. A surge of energy whooshed past her body, sending a gushing wind whirling in 50-meter radius around her. The small Chasind woman immediately began to…evaporate and turn into a dark cloud of dust right in front of the astonished crowd on the wall. Then they suddenly realised it wasn't dust. It was massive swarms of insects. It rapidly rose from the stone battlement and descended down to the darkspawn below.

The monsters began to shriek in pain. Some tried to run away, while waving their hands to pat off the insects around them.

A small group of two Genlocks, two bug-like darkspawn and an armoured Ogre broke free from the chaos of the town square and the dragon. They waved their clubs and swords, snarling, approaching the gate at a surprisingly fast speed.

"Damn it, here they come!" The Gwarenian at the gate tensed, fully prepared for action. Ser Ciaren was already down at the gate. He charged first, raised his sword overhead and slashed a bug-like darkspawn cleanly in half. He sprung around, elbowed a Genlock, sent him staggering back, and synched his weapon into the other's chest. The sinister being rolled his eyes upward and died instantly. The remaining darkspawn bug leaped at the knight, its face splitting into four pincers, fully ready to sink into his flesh. A lightening bolt crashed down from the sky and hit the creature dead on, turning him into a pile of smoking dust. Ciaren jerked his head around and saw it was Levyn who cast the spell.

He tilted his chin saluted before he turned his attention back to the snarling Ogre. He and several warriors waved their swords and took turns to attack the giant monster. Across the square, the swarm of stinging insects continued to torment the darkspawn. With the dragon breathing fire above, the additional troops once again held up far away from the walls that separated the township and the docks. Their number continued to decline; soon, it was once again a handful of larger darkspawn and Genlocks left.

The heavy smoke slowly faded. A tall, blue armoured figure slowly emerged through the curtains of fog. The same talking darkspawn had returned.

"I believe I told you to mark my word, mage," he sneered at the blood mage, while waving his staff and zapping several insects near him, turning them into fine dust. "We always come back and claim what was rightfully ours."

"You will not touch her!" roared Levyn.

"Oh, then it's not up to you to decide," laughed the sinister monster wickedly. "Once we broke through the final defense, I would like to see any of you try—"

"There is a good reason why darkspawn should not speak." Suddenly, an old, sarcastic voice echoed through the air. Both of them turned their heads up and found themselves looking straight into the High Dragon's golden, fiery eyes. "Cha-cha-cha, anyone told you talk is cheap?"

The darkspawn's eyes widened with shock. "You…."

"Marching through my territory and took my absence as permission? Or the silence of an allied?" The dragon glared. "I was merely showing you mercy!"

"Sweet sodding broodmothers, you are—"

"Oh, yes. I am." The dragon grinned.


	8. Chapter 8

**Dragon Age. Origin **

** Levyn **

** Chapter Eight – Gwaren, Witch of the Wild **

"It can't be right," the darkspawn gasped. "It's only a legend."

"A legend is fact exaggerated by the word of mouth, tainted being," the dragon sniggered. "Oh, it's been a while since I last faced this many foes! How exciting!"

"Legend or not, I cannot return without her today," said the sinister creature though his gritted teeth. "Even if that means treading through burning fire and smashing through a thick wall of those stupid mortals!"

"Oh, what was awaiting for you down in the Deep Roads, I wonder?" the High Dragon laughed. She tilted her head and breathed a gush of hot air from her nostrils. "Most of your troops are already gone, darkspawn."

The talking darkspawn let out an angry roar and fired spell after spell toward the purple dragon. Laughing wickedly, the creature in the air fluttered her wings and dodged them skillfully. On the battlement, seizing this chance, Levyn drew out the dagger from his sleeve.

"You aren't going to do that, are you?" Jethro cocked his eyebrow quizzically with the corner of his mouth twisted upward, while Wolf nearby withdrew a shocking breath and his face turned a shade whiter.

"No, but I am going to do something about this gate." Levyn pointed at the darkspawn below. "I just spotted another wave of darkspawn pouring in – Maker knows where were they all come from. I thought the Blight killed most of them already! They are still sneaking past the front line; Ser Ciaren won't be able to hold it for long. Mihi's present form will drain all her mana. Should she return to human form; she won't be able to stand at all, let alone fight."

"There's still us!" Wolf complained.

"Yes, my friend." The blood mage sighed. "But how many of you behind this gate are uninjured? Have you seen the makeshift infirmary near the dock? No… I don't think so. They cannot go past this gate, simple as that."

"I've warned you, maleficar, I've—"

"Yes," Levyn looked at the Templar resignedly. "But unless you have better idea to stop those thing down there that keep trying to smash past our gate, I suggest that applying my enforcement won't do any harm."

Ignoring Wolf's stiff glare, which to him it seemed like the Templar was suffering a certain degree of internal struggle, the blood mage went past him and headed downstairs, approaching the half opened gate. The dark, heavy wooden door stood in front of him. Through the gap, he could see Ser Ciaren and several Gwarenians fighting hard to fend off those sinister creatures that still somehow managed to sneak past the dragon and Mihi, the Chasind mage.

Standing with his legs slightly parted, Levyn glared at the entrance sternly. He inhaled deeply before he ran the sharp blade through his palm. Crimson blood immediately gushed out and overflowed onto the sandy ground. The throbbing pain was excruciating, but he chose not to pay any attention to it. The blood mage slowly walked toward the door, leaving a trail of blood behind him. He came to a halt at the stone-built doorframe and placed his bloody hand on it, leaving a red stain on the rock.

He dragged his hand downward, watching in satisfaction the distinct mark left by the blood absorbed into the stone quickly. The mage continued to drag his hand across the door and stopped only when it reached the other side. He briefly glanced back at the blood mark he left behind, before chanting the carefully selected ancient Tevinter syllables. A gush of energy whooshed past him. At once, the stain on the door came to life. It crawled along the wooden surface and whispered in an excited child's tone. Soon the entire door was covered with the bloodstain. An invisible force field swirled and formed between the battlefield and the gate. A shriek rose from the ground, snarling and moving toward the gate at top speed. As soon as it went near the force field, an arcane bolt shot from the barrier and hit the bastard hard. The beast vaporized and turned to dust in front of the crowd within second.

The crowd cheered. Their eyes widened in astonishment as Mihi returned to human form and went past the gate unharmed.

"Nicely done." She nodded toward the bloodmage.

"Likewise." Levyn inclined back.

"Now let's hope that the High Dragon out there is still holding up nicely." The Chasind mage smirked. They headed back to Wolf and the rest of the defense team.

"Man, you really are more powerful than you look, if I haven't tell you that already!" Jethro smacked his friend's back as he returned. "Look at those filthy things. They can't even go anywhere near us!"

Another blighting light shone just below them. The blood mage leaned over the stone rail and saw another Hurlock turn into black dust.

"This spell won't last long," said the mage grimly. "Either the Revered Mother changes her mind and comes over quickly, so we can shut the gate, or that mystery dragon friend of ours up there finishes off the rest soon, otherwise we might still have to face the darkspawn ourselves."

"Us versus such sheer numbers?" Mihi arched her eyebrow. She was now sitting against the wall, trying to regain her mana and strength. "Keep in mind that you aren't the only battle mage here; by then I should be recharged enough to slaughter a few more. Besides, our friend up there seems to be doing quiet well."

Levyn turned his head around, saw the High Dragon flapping her taloned wings, causing whirlwinds and twisters around her. Several darkspawn lost balance and tumbled off their feet, including the remaining ogres. The talking darkspawn temporarily dropped his spells. Seizing this chance, a couple of fighters emerged from the shadows and attacked the monster at once. Soon one ogre's head was separated from its body, and the blood that spilled from his body was enough to drown a cat.

More people came out of their hiding places and assisted clearing out the monsters that were still around the square. Ser Ciaren wielded his sword and slashed away at the front of the gate. Wolf leaped down from the wall and landed on the top of a carriage full of hay. He quickly got back to his feet and joined the knight to fight any darkspawn that still dared enough to come anywhere near the gate. Knocking his arrows, Jethro and several other archers drew their aim on any dark creature that was still moving from the wall and killed quite a few of them in a row.

The dragon inhaled deeply and breathed more fire toward the ground below. Hot flames licked those who were still standing, and soon Levyn heard the darkspawn's painful howls. Smoke steamed out of his armor, the darkspawn who talked seemed unable to stand any more attacks. He swayed, and finally collapsed onto his knee.

"No…no," he hissed. "We cannot fail this time…we cannot afford to fail this time. No…."

He suddenly jerked his head around and looked to where Levyn was standing. Before anybody realized what he was about to do, he raised his magic staff and cast one last spell at the battlement. Bright light in the shape of the blade flew out the tip of his staff and went straight toward the gate.

"Levyn, he's going to tear the Veil!" Mihi cried. She was the first who recognised the spell. Her eyes widened in fear. "He's planning to draw us all into the Fade!"

"I know," said the blood mage in confident tone. "Don't worry."

"Are you sure about this?" Jethro became anxious as the light drew near. "Will it hold up?"

"It will hold up." Levyn nodded, his eyes illuminated by the blinding light.

The light finally hit the barrier, making a loud bang and emitting something so bright that made everyone temporally blind. When everyone finally regained their sight, they found the barrier was still there, and the spell the darkspawn cast bounced off.

The dragon landed on the stone cobbles of the town square, sending a surge of wind around her, the ground quaking beneath her. She tilted her head and hovered over the darkspawn, who had used all his strength and mana and was now very close to the verge of death. Dark, charcoal-colored marks gushed out of his eyes, nose, ears and twisted mouth. His jaws opened and closed unconsciously, with nothing-meaningful coming out. The High Dragon grinned from ear to ear, baring all her sharp teeth.

"_Tsk-tsk_, the trouble with talking too much, as I said." Her fiery eyes glittered with amusement. "Now, if you don't mind to indulge me a little, what so special about this town and people here, darkspawn? I've watched your people prowling around here for weeks. Is it worth you and your troops to stomp all over this city, only to be defeated once again?"

The sinister creature mumbled something inaudible.

"Arh, you got to speak a little bit louder than that, dark creature," the dragon sneered. "I'm afraid with my grand old age, my hearing isn't particularly sharp."

"The Scholar insisted…."

" 'The Scholar,' you said? Charming, now your kind have gained enough intelligence to have a 'i_Scholar_/i'." The dragon's brow arched. "Humph…. What did he want from the city, I wonder?"

"Don't you dare," the darkspawn hissed.

"Hey, I am not the one who nearly turned into a pile of dust just a moment ago," the High Dragon chuckled. "I can be as rude as I am, my dear. Now answer my question!"

"The girl, she wanted the girl…." The darkspawn's bloodshot eyes slowly rolled up.

"Huh?'_She_'?" The dragon's eyebrow shot further up. "I thought you said it was he?"

The sinister creature's consciousness began to drift in and out. " She wanted the girl…"

"Aarh!" The High Dragon made an impatient growl. "Useless bastard!"

She raised her claw and smashed down, squashed the darkspawn promptly under her foot. She then turned her head around, looked over her shoulder and straight into Levyn's eyes. The blood mage felt a sudden jolt inside him, as if his thoughts had just been read and stirred by an invisible hand. All his past and present memories laid bare for her to browse. He went rigid while watching the High Dragon slowly rise and move toward the gate. His eyes widened when the dragon's large form shifted, became blurry and dissembled. As she moved, a cloud of dark shadow whirled around in a huge mass, drifting away and returning, gradually getting smaller. The dragon – well, what everyone had thought was a dragon – stopped in front of Wolf and Ser Ciaren, who were absolutely astounded and stared at her with jaws slightly agape.

"They were after your girl, weren't they?" The High Dragon no longer. An old woman, dressed in a slightly dated, battered mage robe, with her grey, silvery hair tousled in the wind stood before him. She tilted her head slightly upward and grinned at the blood mage, her eyes glittering with interest. "The girl you found in that farm."

Levyn frowned a dozen questions flickered through his head. At the end, only one of them remained.

_Who is this old lady?_

His question was soon answered by the voice that rose near him. It was Gwen, holding her usual wooden stick in her hand and a piercing look sharp enough to see right though anything. Not very far from her stood the Revered Mother. Looking slightly shaken but unharmed, she simply stared at the new guest with intense curiosity.

"Flemeth, the Witch of the Wild. What a pleasure to have you here." The corner of the Gwen's mouth curved up.

* * *

Jethro and Mihi kept staring at Flemeth in awe long after they came down from the wall and joined them. As a matter of fact, almost the entire populations of Gwaren were staring at the old mage with their mouths gaping as they gradually gathered around the gate. Flemeth was a legend in this area, and the fact that she stood under the same sky that they were under, breathing in the same air they were breathing, was simply unbelievable. Ever since he left the Tower and started his journey as an escapee, the stories about a certain witch living in the Korcari Wilds had been steadily heard from all kinds of people. Of course, some of them were plainly exaggerating, like how she managed to lure men into her sweet honey nest and only devour them not very long after sleeping with them, or how she could turn anyone into stone with just one glare, or that she had many, many daughters, going about in the wilds and doing her dirty works.

Actually, on the last count, it might be true. Didn't Neph whisper to him one of her companions, Morrigan, was the daughter of a legendary witch? Or did she mean the Witch of the Wilds? He could not remember.

"Those creature had been crawling around in the forest for quite some time, well after the Blight was finished." Flemeth smirked. "And all of the sudden, they were gathered around here, rather than joining their comrades up north. That's what got me interested. And when they attacked this town for the second time tonight…let's just say I could not resist hopping in myself."

"That was very gallant of you," Gwen said, inclining her head slightly. "Without your assistance, Gwaren might have been torched to the ground."

"Cha-cha, I should had done it long time ago." Flemeth smiled. "Instead allowing these pests to infest my forest…."

"You think they attacked Gwaren because of Gladys?" asked the Revered Mother.

"It was one of my suspicions, yes." The old mage nodded. "And those darkspawn pretty much confirmed that tonight that's who they were after."

"Did they say why?" Levyn frowned. "She's just a normal girl. I had never seen darkspawn that persistent before."

"Nor a darkspawn that speaks, I am just saying." Flemeth laughed. "No, they didn't say why. Curious, no?"

The crowd stirred, and soon a path was cleared for someone to come through. Gladys slowly moved forward to the front. Her head tilted slightly, listening to the commotion that went on around her. Her artificial eyes shimmered under the blue moon, looking ethereal and yet serene. The slight gaunt appeal on her seemed more obvious tonight after being so close to the darkspawn. She sought out Levyn and walked toward him. The blood mage reached out his hand and laced his fingers with hers tightly.

"Arh, just the girl we were talking about." Flemeth's eyes glittered with interest. "You are Gladys?"

"Yes." The Chasind girl hesitated for a moment before answered.

"A Chasind….humph… I can see they've started the work on you, even when they knew you've lost your…." The witch folded her arms and began to circle around Gladys. "Still, that doesn't explain why they wanted you so badly."

"I don't want the whole city to suffer because of me." Gladys' face was whiter than usual. "If…if it is I who they wanted, I can….I can leave here and…."

"No." Jethro immediately shook his head.

"Don't be absurd!" Several voices cried out at once, basically all expressing the same thing, that there was no need for the Chasind girl to leave the town in order to save the rest of them. The girl's face went flaming red as Flemeth's eyebrow arched up and she laughed wickedly.

"Do you think they will leave Gwaren alone by doing so? Then you don't know the darkspawn at all! No, they will still flatten this place after taking you, my dear. " The old mage stopped laughing, and chewed her lips thoughtfully. "Although, I do wonder about what this talking one said before I crushed his skull."

"What exactly did he tell you?" Levyn asked.

"Now, you are the _runaway mage_." Flemeth did not answer the blood mage's question; instead, she suddenly turned her attention toward him. "How curious…."

She moved closer and stopped mere inches in front of him. The old mage reached out her hand and tilted Levyn's chin upward, examining him intently. The blood mage once again felt transparent and naked.

She did not say anything more, much to his relief. Flemeth withdrew her hand and paced back to Gwen and the Revered Mother.

"What he said…intrigued me." After a while, she opened her mouth thoughtfully. "You are aware there is another darkspawn behind this, namely the Scholar?"

"Yes," replied Levyn, Jethro, and Wolf together.

"And are you aware there might be two Scholars?"

"Wha—?" The blood mage looked shocked. "Two?"

"Worrisome, yes?" Flemeth frowned. "Worth investigating."

"Investigate?" Levyn's eyebrows nearly shot to the sky above. "Are you suggesting what I think you are suggesting?"

"Oh, yes." The legendary mage nodded firmly, a small smile at the corner of her mouth. "We need to enter the Deep Roads."


	9. Chapter 9

**Dragon Age. Origin **

** Levyn **

** Chapter Nine – Gate, Let Go **

"Enter the Deep Roads?" Levyn looked at Flemeth in surprise. "Is that really necessary?"

Judging by the gasps from the surrounding crowd, there were quite a few others who were astonished by the idea, as well.

"I wouldn't waste my time here if I don't think it is necessary." The old mage inspected her fingers casually. "The darkspawn are brewing something, something to aid the war up north."

"The one at Amarathine?" asked Jethro.

"Indeed." The witch smirked. "That war drew away most of the remaining troops after the Blight. A civil war between the darkspawn, I believe."

"Those things are fighting each other now?" The Chasind logger frowned and looked slightly amused.

"Oh, yes," Flemeth nodded. "They've been like that since the Archdemon was slain. They can no longer feel the Calling. It had stopped."

"Yes, according to the Chantry," Wolf interrupted, "they were supposed to return to the Deep Roads."

"Then why are they still attacking your city?" The witch looked at the Templar meaningfully. "Why are darkspawn we had not previously seen suddenly appearing on the surface, and some of them actually talked?"

"If that's the case," Gwen added as she chewed her upper lip thoughtfully, "to which side are these ones allied?"

"Another reason there is need to head down to the Deep Roads, don't you agree?" Flemeth sniggered. "Whichever side they are with, wouldn't it be a heavy blow if we eliminate them here before they manage to move up north?"

"A very excellent notion you have there, Flemeth," a husky voice piped up from the crowd. Levyn turned his head around and saw a masculine dwarf in chainmail looking at them sternly. His hair was gathered on the top of his head and tied into a neat bun, while his face has half buried by his beard and bushy eyebrows. Like the rest of the Gwarenians tonight, he was covered in blood, and burn marks dotted his body. Small bits of flesh could be seen here and there on his armor and his battleaxes.

"Zac!" Jethro called out.

This was the first time the blood mage saw the dwarven weaponsmith. Levyn saw that it appeared that the small warrior knew more than just how to make fine dwarven crafts. His eye scanned the crowd, glittering with fierce, defiant determination. The dwarf slowly stepped forward and came to stand in front of the witch.

"Ah, a dwarf," Flemeth's mouth curled up. "They said it was the dwarves who used to conquer the lands below. They carved their soul and memories into the stone, and they knew the Deep Roads inside out. This one, I wonder, was he born and raised on the surface, or is he one who came to this world with the blessings of their ancestors?"

"Both," Zac grunted.

"How interesting." The old witch's eyes lit up. "I heard lore of the last Gwarenian dwarves who stayed behind as their empire crumbled beneath our feet. They were the guardians for the passage to the Gwaren below. Only they knew the way to descend to the Deep Roads from this city, and they swore an oath not to tell any living soul about such a route. They were bound to the oath from birth. Those dwarves were known as the Keykeepers of the Gwaren. You heard of such a tale?"

"Yes," replied the weapons smith simply.

The crowd gasped and stirred. Most of them only heard of this lore for the first time tonight, but that Flemeth, the Witch of the Wilds, was aware that such a story existed was simply astonishing. Several people seemed figure out the connection and began to cry out in shock, pointing their shaking fingers at the witch, then the dwarf, and back to the witch again.

"Keykeepers of the Gwaren." Flemeth smiled and inclined her head, while Zac tilted his head politely in return.

"So the rumor is true," Jethro whispered to Levyn. "Zac is the last remaining Gwarrenian dwarf on the surface."

"Flemeth." Zac cleared his throat. "You were suggesting we venture down and clear out whatever was left down there after tonight, before they had a chance to regroup and resurface?"

"My very thoughts!" The old witch clapped her hand enthusiastically. "And find out why they were obsessed with this Chasind girl while you are at it." She pointed at Gladys.

"I swore oath not to tell others of the underground route." The weapon smith eyed Flemeth thoughtfully. "And now you are asking me to break my oath?"

"For a good cause, don't you think?" Flemeth laughed.

"Are you also aware," the dwarf warrior continued, "that whatever was down there will not be the sodding last of them?"

"Yes." The witch looked at him meaningfully. "If you remember, I merely suggested it would be a heavy blow to those dwelling up north. Would they be the last of them down there? That's an entirely different story."

"Very well." Zac opened his mouth again after glaring at the old witch for a long time. "Going down to the Deep Roads, that is."

"Wait, wait," Wolf waved his hands. "Should the rest of us have any say about this, or has Zac just agreed to go down to the Deep Roads on our behalf? What about here? What about Gwaren? Has any of you actually thought those darkspawn might return while the entire city heads to the Deep Roads? There is a vast forest out there, and more than half of it is overrun by Blighte creatures and darkspawn. Not to mention, there is large hole in the ground somewhere where they first emerged to the surface when the Blight started. Do any of you think there will be some darkspawn who's smart enough to get up from there and attack us?"

"Wolf has a good point there," Gwen spoke again. "I agree. We need to go down there and strike down their leader before they have a chance to regroup, instead of passively staying here and waiting for the darkspawn to send stronger, bigger troops in. We can't just all rush down there. We need a plan. Someone will have to stay here and guard the city."

"I will go." Levyn first raised his hand, closely followed by Zac.

"I will go," Wolf grunted.

One villager shook his head. "I will stay. I've got wife and kids to take care of."

An elven archer stepped forward. "I will go."

"I will stay," said a frightened dwarf.

His son also declined. "I will stay."

The townsfolk soon divided into two groups. Levyn, Zac, Wolf, and a handful of Gwarenians were going to the Deep Roads, while Flemeth, Gwen, Mihi, Ser Ciaren, several knights and Jethro, who protested loudly until the blood mage reminded him about Tabi and Boo, stayed behind. They decided to assemble at Zac's shop at first light; from there, the dwarf would lead them down to the Deep Roads via the passage.

Gladys was visibly shaken by the ordeal tonight, and the idea that Levyn and the others were heading to the Deep Roads at daybreak. Gwen and the others had suggested her to remain on the surface. Her condition would make her easy prey should she accompany them down to the Deep Roads. Besides, they were concerned that the taint in her blood might develop even further should she become exposed to the darkspawn-infested area for too long. The enchanted artificial eyes might not be able to hold the taint if that happened.

But she seemed to hold herself together pretty well, other than an unusually tight grip on Levyn's hand as he led her back to Jethro and Tabi's home. She occasionally paused and tilted her head to listen to the sounds in the wind. Most people would have fallen apart by now.

They returned to Jethro's house in silence, and carefully walked around the dead shrieks as they passed them in the ally. Tabi bid them goodnight and carried Boo to their bed almost as soon as they entered the house. Jethro headed to the kitchen, saying he needed a few bottles of ale before lying down.

"Sorry," the blood mage mumbled as he carefully guided Gladys upstairs and back to her room.

"What for?" The Chasind girl arched an eyebrow.

"Well, remember when the darkspawn were… all over the place earlier and we needed to retreat to the docks?" They arrived at the top of the stairs and Levyn pushed the door open for her. "You asked me not to leave you. Now look at me: I am leaving you here and going down to into the Deep Roads tomorrow."

Gladys chuckled; a small smile lifted the corner of her mouth for the first time since the darkspawn attack that night. "There is no need to apologize over this. It's all right. Besides, you've already done so much for me. Do you think I'd really care about a small thing such as this?"

The blood mage shook his head and smiled foolishly.

"Levyn?"

"Hmm?"

"The witch…Flemeth," the Chasind girl tilted her head and frowned slightly. "She called you _runaway mage_ …"

"You heard that, huh?" Levyn scratched his head.

"Have you two met before?" asked the Chasind girl.

"No. It was the first time I've actually seen her," replied the mage solemnly.

Gladys drew a deep breath. "Is that true? Did you really run away from the Tower?"

"Of course." Levyn shrugged. "Why else would the Templars be after me?"

Testing the area in front of her with her walking stick, the Chasind girl slowly entered her room and moved toward the water jar by the window.

"Need anything else?" asked the blood mage.

"No, that will be all, thank you." Gladys half turned her head around and smiled over her shoulder.

Levyn inhaled and was about to excuse himself when the Chasind girl called out. "Levyn?"

"Hmm?"

A thudding sound echoed through the room. Gladys returned and stood in front of him. Her opaque eyes glittered under the dim lamp. "Mind if I… ask you something?"

The blood mage looked at the Chasind girl quizzically. "Sure. What is it?"

"I've asked you this before. I understand if you still don't want to answer." Gladys cocked her head sideways a little, trying to hear Levyn's movements. "Why did you leave the Tower?"

The mage froze. Yes, she had asked him that before, and he had brushed her off that time. It had been a couple of months since then: Did he trust her enough to tell her the reason why he left the Tower, to share his burden with her? Or should he carry his guilt to his grave, allowing it to slowly eat him from within? He hadn't told anyone, not even Jethro, to whom he had grown pretty close since their encounter in the forest. The only one in Gwaren who knew about his past was Wolf. Even then, it was because the Templar discovered the secret by himself. Did he trust this girl enough to tell her something like this?

Gladys' smile at the corner of her mouth was disappearing fast. She mistook his hesitation as a sign of still being unwilling to share. Her shoulders sagged; her lips trembled slightly and sighed.

"I see." She slowly turned away from the blood mage and headed back to her room. "I'm…sorry…I wasn't meant to—"

"Because I was in love with a girl." Suddenly, without realizing what he was doing, Levyn blurted it out. "Because they were going to prosecute me, turn me into a tranquil because of my magical practices, and I wasn't willing to lose everything for that. I had no other option but to run."

"Tranquil?" Gladys paused for a moment.

"Tranquils are mages whose emotions were removed and their connection to the Fade is completely cut off. The Circle of Magi performed the Rite of Tranquility to those who they thought were too weak of will to survive the threat of demonic possession, or those who practice forbidden forms of magic," the blood mage explained. "In my case, it was the latter."

"Oh, Levyn…." The Chasind girl turned around and returned to him. There was sympathy written all over her face.

"I asked the girl, and my best friend, to help me escape, to destroy my phylactery so they wouldn't be able to find me, without telling them I'd been practicing blood magic for years." Truth continued to pour out of Levyn's mouth. He could not stop. He had been holding his secrets for far too long. "I… I betrayed their trust. I should have told them the truth…."

"The Templars and the Circle of Magi caught us. They….they were going to carry the girl away. That was when I lost it." He shut his eyes tightly, pained from his memory. "I…I performed blood magic right in front of them…."

He collapsed onto the floor and began to sob. The mage was so immersed in his own remembrance, he didn't notice Gladys when kneeled down by his side and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"I….I betrayed them, Gladys…I was weak, I shouldn't have sought the blood magic, I should have let them know. You should have seen their faces, you should have seen them!" Levyn cried out like a wounded animal.

"What happened…" the Chasind girl swallowed. "What happened to the girl?"

"They took her to Aeonar, the mage prison. She…she went with them willingly." The mage's body started to rock back and forth. "It was the last time I've seen her. I was told…. Wolf…told me…she went insane inside that place and can no longer recognize anyone…"

"Wolf?" Gladys frowned for a moment. "What did he—I see, that girl was his sister, wasn't she? She was Lily, the sister Jethro was talking about."

"Yes." Levyn nodded.

"Levyn…"

"I was weak, Gladys." The blood mage buried his face in his palms. "I should had faced my destiny right there, instead I ran, leaving my friend and the girl I love behind. I deserved to be made into Tranquil. I was _weak_, I am _weak_, and I always will be _weak_!"

Gladys hands moved up from Levyn's shoulders and toward his face. She managed to find his chin and tilted it upward. As if trying to isee/i what he looked like with her fingers, her feathery touch brushed past his cheek, his eyes, his nose, and finally, they stopped at his lips.

"You are not weak, Levyn," whispered the Chasind girl softly. "A weak one would not save me from a contingent of snarling darkspawn; a weak one would not help Gwaren defend the city, not just once, but twice; a weak one would not voluntarily to go down to the Deep Roads first thing in the morning, to eliminate the looming threat below; a weak one would not remain here for this long, even after the girl he saved is fully recovered. Levyn, you _weren't_ weak, you _aren't_ weak, and you will _never_ be weak!"

With the last word, Gladys leaned forward and gently pressed her lips against his. They were soft, tasted slightly of pine, elfroot and small scented white flowers.

A wave of tremors rippled through him. He felt his head swoon, drift into Fade and gradually return to his body. Instinctively, he closed his eyes, reached out his hands and grasped the Chasind girl's fingers. Every single cell within his body was awakened and sighed with content. It had been quite some time since another girl kissed him like this, or made him felt like this when kissing him. Was it Lily? No. Lily's kiss was sweet, but it wasn't like this. Neph? The faded memory flashed past his mind. Yes, Neph. And even that was really a long time ago.

When their lips finally parted, it felt like almost a century. Levyn looked at Gladys in surprise while the Chasind girl's face was in crimson.

"Gladys…"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that! I—" she stuttered, trying to apologize. But her words were cut short when Levyn leaned forward and covered his mouth over hers again.

"Don't say that! Don't you ever apologise. Not for this. Don't—" When their kisses broke off once again, the mage cupped her face, his forehead against hers, murmuring as they both tried to steady their uneven breath. The Chasind girl beamed. A small smile flew up on the corners of her mouth.

Their blissful moment was interrupted by the heavy knock on the wooden door. Before Levyn could gather him self up and investigate who it was, Jethro emerged from the kitchen and answered the door.

"Sorry to disturb you in such a lateness." It was Wolf, who cast the blood mage a detestable glare over the Chasind logger's shoulder before he continued. "We have a… certain unusual situation at the gate. Some...unexpected visitor turned up…no, don't panic. It's not the darkspawn." His lips curved up slightly as he saw the residence inside the house all turned white faces. "It's something else, I think you should come."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N** Sorry about the lateness. Certain things over at dA a few weeks back knocked me off balance a little. Back on track now. Reviews are always welcome. Hope you enjoy the story so far.

* * *

**Dragon Age. Origin **

** Levyn **

** Chapter Ten – Dawn, The Dalish Alliance **

It was very close to dawn. The star in the night sky was slowly fading and the edge of the horizon had already turned white. Jethro and Levyn arrived at the gate and found Ser Ciaren, Gwen, Zac and Flemeth standing by the half opened door, talking to a rather large group of what seemed like Dalish elves, led by an unfamiliar female elf. Like most Dalish elves Levyn had encountered, she wore the symbolic tattoos on her face. She was about the same size as Gladys, and appeared to be a lot wiser than whatever age she actually was. Carrying a large ironbark magic staff and dressed in a mage robe, her strawberry blond hair was braided neatly behind her ear, on the base of her neck. Seeing them approach, she politely inclined her head.

"Andaran atish'an." The elf grinned. Her eyes glittered with hidden excitement. "My name is Lanaya. Our clan is here to offer you our assistance."

* * *

Like Flemeth, Lanaya and her clan had been tracking and following the darkspawn for days, since they spotted them near the Brecilian Passage not very long ago. It was unusual, as the Spirit of the Forest usually protected the area. Sensing something must have happened to their woods, the clan also grew curious when the dark creatures began to attack Gwaren. They decided to offer the Gwarenians aide, but on their way they were ambushed by another group of darkspawn, losing almost one third of their clan.

The Gwarenians welcomed their help, since after the second attack most people in the city were injured and unable to fight. A few people in the gathered crowd recognized the clan. They approached the Dalish keeper to hug her and exchange a few pleasantries in low voices. Apparently it had something do to with the werewolf crises during the Blight, which Levyn heard resulted in their previous Keeper sacrificing his life in the process.

Several Dalish elves immediately volunteered to join the Deep Roads expedition, and the remaining ones stayed behind to defend the city. Lanaya would join the Deep Roads crew. She was quite surprised to see Flemeth among the Gwarenians. According to the Dalish Keeper, i_Asha 'belanna,_/ithe "Woman of Many Years," had always operated alone. Other than her daughters, she had never been seen with people, let alone in a city.

"Cha-cha," the old witch laughed. "What do they usually say? 'Extreme circumstances require extreme measures.' Not very long ago, I wasn't even the one who was supposed to save lives, either. And last night I just saved the entire city. What do you know, aye?"

"This is good." Jethro sighed as they walked back to the house. "Now we have more people. The Dalish are here, as well! Who would have thought…."

"At the end of the day, we still don't know why the darkspawn wanted Gladys so badly, or what's actually going to be down there." Levyn chew his lips thoughtfully. "Let's just hold to the thought that there aren't many left to come back to attack the city while we are gone."

"I should have gone down with you, mate." The Chasind logger looked grim.

"Don't be absurd." The blood mage's glare was deadly serious. "You have Tabi and Boo up here. They need you."

"But…"

"No 'but.'" The mage sighed and wagered his finger sternly. "I thought we've concluded that?"

Jethro grunted rather reluctantly. They returned to the house in silence. There were only a few hours remaining before sunrise, so they could not see any point of going to bed. They gathered around the dining table. Tabi served cheese and bread, uncorked a bottle of Antivian wine purchased from Lothering a few years ago and poured generously into the goblets in front of them. They toasted and sipped wordlessly, munched the food half-heartedly, and watched as the fire crackled, each buried in their own thoughts. Only Boo snuggled comfortably in the makeshift bed, sleeping, completely unaware of what was going on around him.

Levy kept glancing at Gladys over the rim of his cup. Her face looked white and slightly stricken. He could not read any expression in her face. What was she thinking? Was she also thinking about the kiss they had shared? Or was she thinking about the coming uncertainty? They did not have much time to talk before Wolf knocked on the door. Was she sure?

_Was she going to stay by his side after knowing the truth, or was that kiss just in sympathy? _

The hours drifted past without anybody saying anything. When the first ray of sun hit the windowsill, they all automatically got to their feet and moved toward the assembly point. Zac already stood in front of his house, gear and weapons ready, and murmuring something with Ser Ciaren and Mihi the Chasind mage. Wolf leaned against a tree, chewing a piece of grass absently, his mind clearly somewhere else. Lanaya was near several barrels of ale with some of her fellow Dalish scouts and archers, talking with Flemeth and the Revered Mother. There were several Gwarenian nearby, as well, bidding goodbyes to their love ones.

As soon as they approached, Zac cast them a teeth-baring grin.

"Good, you guys are here." He clicked his tongue. "Let's go."

"Best of luck!" Gwen shouted as they gathered their gear and began to enter Zac's old stone mansion.

"May Andraste's grace be with you all," the Revered Mother nodded.

"Make sure you come back, mate," Jethro nudged Levyn's shoulder.

"Spare a few darkspawn for us, aye?" Mihi winked.

"Levyn." As Levyn turned and walked away with the other expedition crew, he heard a soft, hesitate voice call out behind him.

"Gladys." He came to a halt and turned, watching the Chasind girl approach him and stop just inches away from him. Her breath stirred a few strands of his hair.

"I…." She tilted her head sideways, seeming unsure where to begin. Several emotions flickered through her face, none of them, however, were regret.

He looked at her beautiful agile features, suddenly threw all the caution and worry into the wind. His hands reached out and gathered her face in between them, his lips pressed against hers. He felt her body trembled. His head once again swooned. People around them let out surprised gasps and cheers, but he did not care. For a brief moment, everything around them seemed to disappear and mattered less. There was much, much more in their kiss than the first time. comfort, solace, peace, and…

_Want_.

Something familiar surged and stirred from the blood mage's lower abdominal area. He felt his heart twitched. For the first time since escaping from the Tower, he felt like he want someone this badly. And from what the Chasind girl response, she felt the same as well.

However, now wasn't exactly the best time, with the looming fact he was about to enter the Deep Road and the entire city was looking at them with the great amusement.

"I will return, this I swear to you," Levyn whispered into her ear after they finally broke apart. His face leaned tightly against her chin. "If…if you are still sure, wait for me."

Gladys nodded. Tears glistened on her face.

The blood mage slowly let go of the Chasind girl and, walking away backwards, his eyes remained fixed on her features. Gladys' poised figure stood breathtakingly beautiful in the morning sun and cooling breeze. Feasting in what might be the last image of her, Levyn's heart ached in places he had been previously unaware of. As his hands touched the doorframe and his back reached the wooden door surface, the blood mage's vision became blurry. He wiped the tears off his face and gave Gladys one last longing look, before he turned and entered the house.

* * *

"Right," Zac grunted as they all stood in front of a large, octagonal steel gate. "Stay back a bit. I am going to unlock the gate."

People near the gate stepped backward a little, watching as the dwarven weapon smith tilted his head for a moment, his arms crossed in front of his chest. He slowly stepped forward, brushing away the spider webs, dry vines and debris covering a small fist-sized hole and inserted his hand while muttering something inaudible under his breath. It seemed it also had been some time since the dwarf last visited this part of his estate. The Dwarf's hand seemed to get hold of something, and then he pulled and twisted. Almost immediately, they heard a loud clang somewhere behind the stone wall, followed by a series of scraping sounds of metal chains being pulled. It seemed like the weapon smith had activated something.

The metal gate, as high as the cave wall they were situated in, started to turn. First clockwise, then it paused. After a deafening unlocking groan echoed throughout the cave, there was more metal scraping the rock surface, suggesting more chain pulling. The second time, the heavy gate went counter-clockwise. Another pause followed, another unlocking click. More chain pulling, and then back to clockwise again. The whole rotating sequence lasted about half an hour long. By the time the gate finally swung forward and opened, everyone let out a sigh of relief.

"Every generation's Keykeeper comes down here when they are coming of age, to test their courage and wits." Zac withdrew his sword and held it firmly in his hand. "Usually it's the oldest. Since I don't have any children, I would be the last one who came down here. It's been years, so no one knows what else is here. Weapons ready, folks."

Several people lit torches and held them firmly in their free hands. They proceed down the road cautiously. The Deep Roads were more like grand hallways, ceilings reaching as high as anyone could see, supported by large columns carved with ancient Dwarven runes — just like what Levyn had seen when he was passing the secret passage with Jethro. They were darkened and covered with grime, dust and blood — clear evidence that the darkspawn was nearby. Every now and then, they saw giant paragon statues standing next to the roads with markings and words on them. The intersections had carvings on the walls, giving them some vague direction about where they were going. Zac chipped off some small bits from the blackened stonewall while studying the runes on the wall every now and then, to figure out the route they were going. According to him, because of the darkspawn activities there, the route to the Dwarven Gwaren ruins was different each time, to avoid confronting the dark creatures head on.

When the weapon smith stopped by a Paragon statue, he chewed his lips thoughtfully and seemed trying to figure out the route again, Wolf approached Levyn and murmured quietly in his ear. "Mage, if I could have a word?"

"What is it?" Levyn shot him a curious glance. Usually, the Templar refused to even look at him, let alone actually talk.

"You and the Chasind girl, Gladys," Wolf arched his eyebrow. "Is it my misunderstanding, or is there something going on between you two?"

"I don't know yet. At the moment, it's just…." The blood mage sighed before he stared at the Templar with a frown. "Is that a problem now?"

"It will be if you try to do her what you did to Lily," Wolf sneered. "Does she know what you did? Or are you planning to hide it from her, just like you've done with the rest of the Gwaren?"

"It so happens that she knows," Levyn shrugged. "Told her before we get down here."

"You…you did?" The Templar's eyebrows shot up.

"Yes, I did. She seemed to be taking it well." The blood mage sighed. "Now I don't think it was a crime the last time I checked, so if you'll excuse me—"

"Lily mentioned you," Wolf suddenly blurted out, just as Levyn was about to walk away. "When I visit her at…you know where."

"Oh?" The blood mage paused, head half turned. "I thought you said she's—"

"I know what I said!" The Templar growled in frustration. "And now I am telling you she mentioned your name in one of her senseless mumblings."

"OK." Levyn nodded, remembering the last time he saw Lily and her distasteful glare. "Mostly hatred, I presume?"

"Surprisingly, no." Wolf shook his head. His voice was full of amazement. "She…from what I gathered, she…didn't seem to mind what you are, even in such a maddened state…"

"What?" The blood mage's eyes widened in surprise. This was entirely unexpected. The hateful look on the Chantry sister's face was still imprinted in his head. Her slightly high- pitched and shaking voice yet echoed in his brain and tormented him even now.

_Lily could not believe what she had just witnessed. She seemed rooted to the spot. Her eyes kept darting between the fallen Templars, the First Enchanter and Jowan._

"_Lily, hurry, we must go!" Jowan urged. _

"_How could you… Blood magic is… evil, Jowan. It corrupts people, changes them…how…how could you even think of doing that?" Tears welled up in Lily's big brown eyes and trickled down her porcelain cheek. She kept shaking her head, as if by doing so the truth she just learned would go away._

"_I swear to you, Lily, I only just use it so I… Please, we must make ha—." Levyn tried to reach her, but the Chantry sister slapped his hands away in disgust._

"_STAY AWAY FROM ME!" She screamed and went hysterical. "I do not want to see you again! Stay away from me! Holy Andraste, what have I done? What have I _done_!"_

Levyn's hands tighten into fists. How could she not hate him after that? He betrayed her trust and her love. Even he hated himself for that. If he had not resolved his troubles with blood magic, none of that would have happened; if he could have practiced a bit more and ignored the outstanding performance of his friend Neph, if he wasn't weak….

But Gladys did not think of him that way. Another small voice piped up inside his head. As the matter of fact, other than Wolf, none of the Gwarenians thought of him that way. Had he not proven that he was not weak? Had he shown the others what he was capable of after the whole ordeal as Jowan? Those people did not mind non-Chantry approved magic, as long as you put it into a good use. Hadn't he proved just that? What was he afraid of? What did he still feel guilty about?

"…I'm still watching you, mage. That's not going to change." Wolf finished his sentence, which Levyn missed as he was too immersed in his own thoughts.

"Thanks for sharing," the blood mage nodded and turned. "Now if you'll excuse me." He walked away from the Templar and joined Lanaya the Dalish keeper. The former glared at him for a long while before he finally stormed past them and joined Zac at the front.

"They called you a maleficar." The elf starred at the back of Wolf for a few minutes before she jerked her head around and scanned Levyn curiously. "Is that true?"

"Yes." Levyn bowed his head politely.

"Humph…." Lanaya stared at him thoughtfully. "I must say, you don't really strike me as a maleficar kind."

"You aren't the only one." Levyn chuckled.

"Truly?" The Dalish Elf grinned. "I suppose we all shouldn't judge a book by its cover."

The blood mage smiled half-heartedly, his mind still dwelling on Wolf's revelation. He was under the impression that the Templar hated him to the bone, wanting to execute him on the spot every time he saw him. Why did he want to tell him about Lily? What did he think that would achieve?

Oh, Maker. Now he was bloody confused.

"Dalish keepers usually know about Blood Magic and do not hesitate to pass the knowledge down to their apprentice." Lanaya went on, unaware Levyn's internal conflict. "The previous keeper of my clan was a excellent blood mage; such a shame he passed away just before the Blight ended."

"Wouldn't that give the Dalish trouble, knowing that each clan has at least one possible blood mage?" The blood mage frowned.

"Indeed." The Dalish elf's grin deepened and her eyes twinkled. "The Chantry in particular is very found of playing cat-and-mouse games with us."

"I can understand how you feel." Levyn sighed. "I've been experiencing the same privilege for the last couple of months."

"Is that why that Templar was talking to you?" The keeper's eyebrows shot up. "Is he aware there are plenty of other apostates and blood mages alike in Gwaren?"

"Yep," the blood mage grimaced. "He also knows about the King's order to the Chantry to go easy on blood mages and apostates alike. Why he was after me was…a slightly personal matter to him…"

"Oh, my apologies." The elf looked slightly uncomfortable. "I didn't meant to pry."

"No, it's all right." Levyn smiled sadly. "You are not. Besides, I don't think there is anything I can do to change his view about me."

"Change his view?" Lanaya seemed surprised. "No, nobody can change another's view. It defines what they are. But, you can change your own view about yourself. It's where you can truly find peace."

The blood mage stared at the Dalish keeper in shock. Somehow, he realized she was speaking the truth. _How could he expect to move on if he insisted to see himself as a depressing lunatic?_

Is that how he had been seeing himself all this time? A useless, weak and soft mage who's good at nothing, who had to rely on Blood Magic to boost his power? Did he see himself as someone who keep making mistakes and achieving absolutly nothing? Maker's breath, no wonder his life was a mess!

"Ah." The Dalish's smile deepened. "I hit the right note, have I not?"

"How old are you?" Levyn stared at her in disbelief.

"Not much older than you think I am." Lanaya chuckled. "Let's just say my life experience has made up for it."

"Shh." A Dalish archer suddenly paused and tapped the keeper's shoulders. "I heard something."

Immediately, Zac appeared next to them. "What is it?"

"Over there." The archer pointed at a dark cave entrance not very far from the group. It was deep. From where they stood, they couldn't make out what was at the other end.

Levyn narrowed his eyes, trying to see deeper. Dark shadows danced in the corner. For a brief moment, he could have sworn he heard a grunting noise.

"What's in there, Zac?" Wolf tightened his grip on his broadsword.

"That one," the Dwarven Keykeeper rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "leads to a Thaig ruin. It has long been abandoned, even before the darkspawn invaded the Deep Roads. I am pretty sure I blasted and sealed off the entrance with some explosives. Strange…."

"Do you think it's worth investigating?" asked Lanaya.

"Humph." Zac crossed his arms. "Might as well, since we are not sure where the darkspawn are hiding. We need to explore every possibility."

He raised his torch high over his head. "Well, shall we?"

The group nodded. Each of them entered the cave passage, into the unknown.


	11. Chapter 11

**Dragon Age: Origins **

** Levyn **

** Chapter Eleven – Gwaren, The Unexpected Archer **

**Somewhere in the Deep Roads **

The Scholar paused his movement over the boiling cauldron and glanced sideways. The crease on his forehead deepened. He slowly lowered his arms and stepped down from the stool where he was standing and paced over to the other side of the cavern. The room was illuminated by a huge pool of lava, which swirled and bubbled in the fainting heat, and a large basket full of raw lyrium. The unprocessed minerals hummed with a low vibrating noise, causing anyone near them a migraine before even touching them.

He stopped near one of the stone golem guards near the door, tilted his head up and stared at the hewn stone creature thoughtfully for quite some time, before he began quartering the cave again.

"Something's wrong, my love," the infant voice once again squeaked from the shadows. This time, it trembled slightly, uneasy.

"Indeed," the Scholar grunted. "They have not returned, and I just sensed the gate has just been reopened."

"The Keykeeper has returned." The voice began to shake.

"Do not fear, my love," the Scholar tried to comfort the infant voice. "The defense is strong here. They will not penetrate that easily."

"We need that girl!" the voice once again screeched and started throwing a tantrum. "We need that girl!"

"Hush, my love," said the Scholar in a patient tone. "We still have troops under our command. We can try again."

"Is the girl with the Keykeeper?" queried the infant voice.

"No, I do not sense she's with them," the Scholar replied. "Humph…."

"What are you planning to do, my love?" The voice sounded calmer.

"Do not worry, my sweet dear." The Scholar stopped and came to a halt. "I will cook up something. They will not know what hit them."

* * *

"Gladys? Hey, Gladys!" Tabi's voice repeatedly shouted next to the Chasind girl's ears several times to finally got her attention.

"Yes, Tabi?" Gladys blinked, and slowly turned her head away from the empty mug in front of her and toward the Chasind woman's direction. "What is it?"

"Didn't you hear me?" Tabi sighed. The poor girl had been like this since the expedition group departed to the Deep Roads a few days ago. She strongly suspected it was because of Levyn, judging by that kiss they all witnessed in front of Zac's house. Something was definitely going on between these two. "I need you to mind Boo a bit tonight; Jethro and I must patrol the Wall."

"What?" The Chasind girl felt herself frozen from top to toe. "But…. I…."

"It will be fine." Tabi patted Gladys' shoulder, her tone reassuring. "It's been quiet for several days now. I believe tonight will not be much different. Besides, we've already talked this through: Jethro had opened a small hatch in the kitchen, and so you no longer have to exit the house around back. It's hidden under that dirty rug. If there is anything happening, go straight to our underground passage and to the docks. Ser Ciaren's arranged for a ship to wait there."

Ser Ciaren and the Revered Mother had arranged to have a ship harbored at the docks. Should the darkspawn attacked and they could not hold the city, all remaining people would board the ship and head straight to Denerim up north. One of the knights would go with them and report the situation to King Alistair.

"But I'm…" Gladys sounded worried. "You trust I can protect Boo?"

"With our life," replied Tabi sternly. "Don't worry. Everything will be fine, dear."

Gladys had a chest full of questions as she tilted her head, listening to the Chasind logger's wife moving about the house, grabbing things here and there before heading to the door. "Be… be careful out there, Tabi." She didn't ask any of those questions at the end.

"Aren't I always?" The Chasind woman sounded like she was smiling. "Well, see you later, aye?"

Gladys managed to force a smile as she followed the sound of Tabi tugging the door open and stepping out into the alleyway. It had been four days since Levyn had left for the Deep Roads; she felt part of her went with him. She could not sleep well, eat well, or talk sensibly. There were quite a few times when people had to repeat the same thing three times when speaking to her, each time louder than the last, in order to get her attention. Some of them actually thought the taint in her blood was getting worse; the Revered Mother herself actually came to visit her once and expressed the willingness to pray for her. Jethro nearly laughed his socks off when she left the house.

"Oh, by the Spirit of the Forest!" he said as he wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes. "I know it's not a funny matter, but…oh man, my tummy's killing me!"

She remembered Tabi nearly beat the crap out of the poor Chasind with a cushion, which sent Boo into an excited frenzy, as he thought his mummy and daddy were having a pillow fight.

Despite herself, the corner of her mouth curled up a little.

She finally learned the reason why Levyn left the Tower. And what a terrible reason that was! Yes, she thought, rules were made for people to follow, but they were made by men – surely, they could be bent. Whatever made Levyn decide to use blood magic in the first place, he certainly did not deserve to suffer that much. Gladys' chest tightened whenever she thought about how the poor mage had carried the burden all by himself for all this time. Such a terrible weight! No wonder he could not stand still when telling her these things, no wonder he broke down in tears!

_What else had he been carrying?_ the Chasind girl couldn't help herself from wondering. Was that the sole reason why he stayed distant from everyone he had encountered? If that was the case, what made her so special that he decided to let go and tell her something about his past?

And he let her kiss him.

And he kissed her back.

Gladys' face blushed at the memory. She remembered how Levyn jolted as her lips pressed against his, yet he did not push her away. His features felt surprisingly statuesque and prickled as her fingertips brushed past his face. His lips were soft and gentle. His hands, large, slightly rough but slender and elegant, were surprisingly strong when grasping around her hands. His breath smelled of herbs and red wines.

She found herself drawn to him from the start, and was falling in love with him deeper and faster than she had anticipated. This had never happened to her before. A man, a mage, made her heart leap with joy whenever she heard his voice, and yet, her chest tightened and grasped for more air at the same time. A mage, an apostate, had saved her from the claws of the darkspawn. A mage, a maleficar, which she still found hard to believe, defended her, and the city she was in, more than once, when the sinister creatures tried to take her again. A mage, the nicest man she had ever known, returned her affection.

What did he see in her? She was a Chasind girl with no sight who could not even step out of her bed without a walking stick. She could barely read, or write, and knew nothing about the Chantry Chant. She did not even consider herself beautiful, before or after the darkspawn pawed out her eyes. Why would someone be attracted to her?

The candlelight flickered and made a series of _poof_ sounds. Gladys stood up and approached Boo's bed. From the even breathing that echoed quietly in the corner, the boy was probably sound asleep. She rummaged around the bed a little, found another, larger blanket and covered him up. The little Chasind boy mumbled something inaudible, turned around and went back to the dreamland again. The Chasind girl grinned, gently tucking the coverlet around his neck.

The wind outside started to blow harder, and she reasoned that it was going to be one of those windy nights. Gladys cocked her head sideways, contemplating if she should shut the window, when her chest suddenly tightened. Feeling the familiar heat rush up from her throat, fast and burning, the Chasind girl nearly fell under the table. Hands crunched into fists, she felt the blood rush past her eardrums, throbbing and threatening to burst.

It only meant one thing.

"NO…" Gladys shook her head.

"'Ladys?" Boo stirred. His tiny voice rose from the blanket, sounding half-awake.

The air in the room rapidly turned stale and filled with the stench of rotten meat. The Chasind girl jerked her head toward the door, her ears hearing a gushing sound as it surged from the small gap beneath. She quickly turned around, gathered Boo up in her arms and stumbled to the kitchen door.

Something began to rattle and snarl by the door, the blood throb in her ears beat even faster. Her heart nearly stopped. Several times she almost dropped the Chasind boy. Gladys gritted her teeth, trying her hardest not to scream. The boy, now awoke, wiggled in her arms, trying to see what the commotion was by the main entrance. He waved off her hand and looked over her shoulder. His body went stiff, before trembling like a falling leaf.

It was Boo who screamed first.

* * *

The spider, as large as a round dining table, draped from the web-infested ceiling, snarling at Levyn and Lanaya. Its pincers waved angrily toward its prey, threatening to slash their throats. The Dalish Keeper threw her eyes upward and waved her staff. Several purple Arcane Bolts flew from the tip of the Ironbark magic weapon toward the giant creature and slam into them hard. The thing's eight eyes still stared ahead with disbelief as its lifeless body dropped on the ground.

"Nasty little thing!" Lanaya panted.

"Tezpadam!" Zac barked from the front, heaving his battleaxe from a dead spider pinned against the stonewall. "Must have heard the commotion. Heading your way, people!"

Levyn jerked his head around just in time to see the strangest looking four-legged creatures, baring their teeth as they ran toward them. Sparks crackled between his fingers as he shot out several lightening bolts, zapping them into smoking charcoals. Nearby, Wolf sank his greatsword deep into the chest of another large spider, watching with tremendous satisfaction the creature twitched uncontrollably and died. Not very far from the Templar, two Dalish archers knocked their arrows, took aim at the Tezpadams that seemed to spring out of the rocks, and fired in fluid motions. A fireball broke out from Lanaya's hands and shot straight into another wave of Tezpadams ahead, promptly turning them into dust.

"Where… are those… damn…things… coming from?" She muttered.

Only one of Levyn's arcane bolts killed an opponent, before the blood mage switched to the Fireball spell. "Maker's breath, they are everywhere!"

"Haven't you heard of the Tezpadam?" Zac smashed his axe deep into a Tezpadam's skull. " 'A fool trusts his eyes. A wise man fears every rock is a deepstalker.' These are the deepstalkers!"

"So, these are the legendary creepy things?" The blood mage thought he was going to gag. "They certainly look different from the drawings shown in books!"

"Books? Hah!" The Keykeeper laughed. "Humans are unbelievable. How can you put something that you've barely seen on such a thin material? Whoopsie! More coming!"

"Can someone help me get rid of this sodding sticky web?" another Gwarenian dwarf cried. "Ancestors mercy! I hate spiders!"

It took them a while to clear off all the deepstalkers and the spiders in the tunnel. By the time they were done, the area was spattered with blood and unnamed gooey stuff that no one would dare to investigate. They silently cleaned themselves off the best they could before pressing on.

The group approached a huge gate. Giant Paragons were chiseled in fine detail on the stone columns on either side. Several large rocks partially obscured the walkway. Zac glared at the barriers with his bushy brows in knots – he seemed as though he was trying to figure out something from the distant past.

"This is where I laid the explosives last time." His roughened and scarred hands were on the rock boulders, scraping dirt from the burn marks. "Something, or someone, moved it."

"Darkspawn," Wolf spat.

"No, it's something else." The dwarf's heel swept the dusty floor, sending a small cloud of dirt around them. "There is no track mark. Even the cleverest darkspawn would leave tracks, but there is none here. Humph…. I don't like the look of this."

"Neither do we." Levyn grasped his magic staff tighter. "So, which thaig is this?"

"This one was in ruin way before I entered Old Gwaren for the first time. The Shapers in Orzammar probably have records, but I cannot recall it from the top of my head at this point and time." The dwarven weaponsmith shrugged. "Whatever this thaig was, there shouldn't be anybody here right now."

"Well, let's see who's been lock-picking, shall we?" Wolf carefully held up his sword and shield.

They continued on at a slower and more cautious speed. The thaig ruin was covered in spider webs, dust and grime. Most houses' elaborate and well-carved doors were either collapsed or locked up. Broken or empty chests could be see here and there, leaning against the walls of those houses or pillars. Half-burnt torches and blazers could be seen everywhere.

"Hey," Lanaya suddenly pointed out something in the distance, across a stone bridge. "There is light ahead. Someone's there!"

"Weapons up," said Wolf in a low voice.

Several Dalish scouts shot out from the group and went ahead to have a closer look. They returned a few minutes later, and the expression on their faces was the mixture of bewilderment and shock.

"What is it?" asked their keeper. "Is it darkspawn?"

"No, Lanaya." The scout looked very uneasy.

"What's wrong?" The Dalish mage frowned.

"_Asha_…." The other scout suddenly blurted out in Dalish. Her face went as white as wax. "_Asha Vhenan'era_!"

Lanaya's face suddenly drained of color. "_Setheneran? Andaran Setheneran_?"

"No." Fear flickered in their eyes.

"Hello?" Levyn darted his glace between them. "Non-Dalish, arh…. Shemlen here? Anyone care translate what has just been said?"

"They just informed me," Lanaya took a deep breath, "that there was _Asha Vhenan'era_ ahead."

"All right." The blood mage still looked puzzled. "I will take it that has nothing to do with the darkspawn."

"No," the keeper replied.

"So, what is it?" Wolf cast the other end of the bridge a wary look.

"Levyn, I understand the Tower tests the mage by sending them through the Fade at the end of their apprenticeships." Lanaya suddenly looked straight at him.

"Yes, it's called the Harrowing…" Suddenly his face turned white. "We have a i_tear_ /i ahead?"

"Doesn't look like it." The Dalish girl's voice was tight. "Which is quite strange."

"How so?" Zac arched his eyebrow.

"Because a Desire Demon cannot be far away from the Fade, alone, in the middle of the thaig ruin!" The Dalish keeper seemed terrified. "Not to mention she was alone with a Templar!"

"Aye?" Wolf's eyes were widened in shock.

"Bewitched." Levyn's fingers tapping his belt. "Bewitched Templars. It's the only explanation for why a Templar would follow a Desire Demon all the way here."

"But why is the Demon here?" asked the Templar.

"That's my concern as well." The blood mage chew his lips thoughtfully. "A Desire Demon will not venture out of the Fade very far. There is definitely a tear not very far from here."

"But where?" asked Lanaya.

"We can… ask her." Levyn shrugged, and cried when he saw the shock on his companion's faces. "What, do you have better idea to detect them, in the darkness and in the middle of nowhere?"

"He's right." Zac glanced over in the direction of the bridge. "We need to ask her."

"But Zac, you have no idea what this Demon is capable of…." Lanaya still seemed worried.

"I don't. Hey, I am a Dwarf." The Keykeeper laughed. "But you two have." He pointed at Levyn and the Dalish keeper.

"Well….I suppose you are right. Come on, we need to do this." Levyn began to walk toward the stone bridge. "Besides, there is only one Demon and two of us. Which side do you think will have better odds?"

Without waiting for Lanaya's reply, he crossed the bridge. Sure enough, by a burning blazer in the middle of what seemed to be the old market square, stood the purple-hued, horned creature. Her hands were wrapped around the neck of the Templar, her full lips were whispering next to his ear, and her body was pressing against his armor tightly.

"The children are outside, my love." The blood mage could hear the Demon as she spoke seductively as he walked near. "Shall we continue what we started this morning?"

To his surprise, the bewitched Templar beamed and giggled wickedly. "You read my mind, my sweet." His hands were stroking the Desire Demon's back gently. The Fade creature purred, her tail twitching with delight. "Now we are all alone…."

Suddenly the Desire Demon paused. Her gaze swept across the square and fixed on the blood mage. Her eyes seemed to narrow slightly, unhappy to be disturbed.

"Damn, someone is at the door again." She pouted. "This happens a lot, doesn't it?"

"Andraste's flaming knickers! It does indeed." The Templar frowned. "Do you want me to get rid of them?"

"Oh, there is no need. It must be the nosey neighbour, trying to borrow some sugar, or vinegar, or something." She kissed the Templar briefly, her deep purple tongue licking his lips. "I will go."

"Are you sure?" asked the bewitched Templar.

"My heart, I will be fine." The Desire Demon released the Templar, then half-turned her head toward Levyn and the expeditionary group. "Besides, you can always come save me if I am in trouble, can't you?"

"Of course, dear." The Templar tilted his head sideway and smiled vacantly.

"You are intruding upon a loving, intimate moment," The Desire Demon glared at them with the corner of her mouth curled upward. Her voice still as sweet as honey, and her lashes flickered like butterflies. "Goodness, here we are, all the way down here, and people still won't leave us alone!"


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N** : Certain Dalish dialogue in the story need to translate:

"_Asha Vhenan'ara, Samahl Ma Vhenan'ara, Ashalin._ " - ** Laugh all you want, Blood Demon!**

"_ Emma San, Da'len. Emma Ir Vhenan'ara!_ " - ** I am not, my child. I only give pleasure!" **

Other than that, enjoy.

* * *

**Dragon Age: Origins **

** Levyn **

** Chapter Twelve– The Thaig Ruin, The Desire Demon With A Name **

"You are… he is…," Levyn stuttered, having suddenly lost the ability to speak normally.

"Tsk, tsk, oh my. Why people always act so surprised whenever they see me with someone?" The Desire Demon giggled, her hands covered her mouth elegantly. "Wouldn't you be so surprised if I am—" Her figure became blurry, scattered and reformed in an instant. She transformed into a familiar figure: brown hair, auburn eyes, flawless porcelain skin, a warm-colored chantry robe. "—like this?"

The blood mage's jaw dropped. Standing in front of him, was one of many people that had been haunting him in his dream for at least the last six months—Lily. Her eyes glittered with playfulness, the smirk on her face suggesting she enjoyed the reaction on his face. It was a lot closer to the expression she had the first time they met, in the Tower's Chapel.

"And Eileen spoke unto the masses, 'My hearth is yours, my bread is yours, my life is yours. For all who walk in the sight of the Maker are one.'"

_Jowan was attracted by a sweet voice he had never heard before as he hurried past the Chapel, on his way to the afternoon's herbal lectures. He had heard the Chant so many times since he entered the Tower, but today…it was different. The voice could only exist in heaven, and touched his heart deeply. He stopped, peeked into the door and saw a beautiful girl as she stood by the statue of Andraste. She was giving the Maker's blessing to a small group of apprentices.  
_

"Let all repeat the Chant of Light."_ The girl, with hair just below her ears, was beaming with delight, from the enjoyment of reciting the Chant. Her deep brown eyes glittered with joy and absolute happiness, the smile resting on the corner of her mouth seemed intriguing. _" Only the Word dispels the darkness upon us."

_ From that moment forward, the mage apprentice knew he had fallen, fallen deeply into the web of the acolyte of the Chantry, into Lily, one of the purest things he had ever seen in his life, like a faint light in the darkness. In his most depressing moment, he met her, his blinding ray of hope…_

Levyn swallowed, subconsciously waving his hands in front of him. The memory was now filled with bittersweet and sorrow. Of course, what happened within a year after that was one of the most horrible moments of his life. Even now, he still could not forgive himself. Even after hearing that the sister of the Chantry herself had forgiven him. Even Gladys and most people around him were not bothered by his use of blood magic.

And now, this sinful creature had just changed into Lily?

He stepped backward, and his feet stepped onto something. Instinctively, the mage jerked his head around and saw that Wolf stood right behind him, stiff as a statue, color completely drained from his face and totally unaware of what his feet had just straddled. Levyn frowned at first, and then understood: Of course, the Templar was her brother. The emotional turmoil he had been through was just as great as the mage's.

Wolf groaned in anguish: "Lily, no!"

The Desire Demon sniggered, taking particular satisfaction in the shock on the two men's faces. Her long lashes batted as her dark eyes blinked. "Obviously, it's not normal she's here, no? What about—this?"

Her figure once again blurred. When it became focused again, the apostate gasped. It was another person he was familiar with: slender figure, opaque white eyes, hair braided and tucked neatly behind her ears, and a white, slightly haunted face.

"No!" he blurted out. His hand covered his mouth. His knees nearly buckled. He should have known this. He should have known the demon would transform into anyone his heart desired. He should have known the minute he encountered this devil being, that she would change into what he craved the most at this moment. The very person who had been filling his heart ever since they left the surface and entered the Deep Roads.

Gladys.

Levyn missed her. He missed her terribly. What they had before he departed was…. something wonderful, something promising, something blossoming, and something that was different from what he had experienced so far. If he had a choice, he would rather stay by her side and explore her true intention as to what they had between them. But like most events that had happened in his life, he did not have that kind of choice. Instead, he was here, staring at a hallucination that was conjured by a demon.

It broke his heart, knowing that the person who stood in front of him was not real.

He could feel his heart being torn into pieces.

"_Asha Vhenan'ara_," Lanaya next to him narrowed her eyes and whispered beneath her breath. "_ Samahl Ma Vhenan'ara, Ashalin. _"

"Huh?" Not used to hearing the Dalish keeper speaking in her own mother tongue, not to mention his mind was kind of preoccupied at the moment, the blood mage turned his head around and looked at the elf quizzically.

The Desire Demon heard Lanaya speak, as well, and fully comprehended the elf's language. "_ Emma San, Da'len._" Her voice suddenly changed into a male's voice. The sinister creature of the Fade watched with more pleasure as the Dalish girl's face flickered with horror, and obviously recognized who the male was:"_ Emma Ir Vhenan'ara! _"

Lanaya growled. Her hands crackled with sparks. The Dalish elf glared at the demon for a while before walking away, pacing between Zac and her fellow Dalish clan.

"Your friend thought we demons only understand one language." The Desire Demon's voice now returned to normal, but she was still in Gladys' form as she laughed seductively and watched with pleasure that the blood mage's body shook uncontrollably. "She forgot we tend to live a lot longer than they do!"

"What are you doing here, Demon?" asked Wolf, who cast Levyn a quick sympathetic glance, before he returned his attention to the demon with a threatening tone. "Other than showing us the marvelous magic of transforming into someone we know?"

"Trying to find somewhere so we can be alone!" She replied, nodding toward her bespelled Templar, unfazed by the Wolf's glare and arched her eyebrow. "Surprised, no?"

"Shouldn't you be in the Fade?" asked Levyn, trying his best to remain focused, while casting a worried look at the bewitched Templar behind her. "Surely, there are plenty of places where you two can be i _alone_/i?"

"Don't worry about him; he's happy and content, more than you could ever imagine!" The Desire Demon giggled, seeming to be able to read people's thoughts. "As for you, Templar, who said the Fade is not here?"

"There is a Tear here?" Levyn felt as though his blood had stopped flowing within his body. He quickly scanned around, but there was no sign of a tear in the Veil in sight, or anywhere he sensed. Lanaya behind him seemed to be on edge, as well. She also quickly checked their surroundings before instructing her fellow Dalish scouts to verify the area further on.

"Near, but not here." The demon laughed. Her hand gingerly rubbed her long neck. " I can wander far enough without one. We are not as fragile as you mortals think, my sweet."

"Was the Tear made by a darkspawn?" Lanaya suddenly asked.

"Oh, surprise, surprise, someone's thinking outside the square. Alas, I am afraid I don't have the answer." The Desire Demon shook her head. "We do not know who tore it, you see. All we know is there was a tear and we seized the chance to slip into this world, once again. But I can tell you that the Tear is further up, once you step out of this ruin, and there's more than one."

"i_More than one_ /i?" All of them cried out. This was not good, not good at all…

"Whoever made these Tears was very powerful." The Desire Demon gleamed. "Oh, imagine if I would get my hands on that…. At any rate, this person, or being, is probably using the Tears as a defense system. Using those Tears as barriers, oh, how clever!"

"Are you saying whoever this person, or being is," asked Zac the KeyKeeper, "might be in the Fade, as well?"

"No." The demon frowned. "I did not sense anything foreign while I was in the Fade. I don't think this thing was in it. This … thing-of-meh-bob might simply use the Tears as some form of defense wall, like I had suggested." She suddenly did a cat stretch, purposely showing her body in a seductive way. "Now you've done all the questioning, can I have my turn? What are you planning to do with…my pet and I? Mind you, if you try to kill me, he will certainly try to protect his 'beloved wife.' And don't even think of awakening my sweet darling. The last group of people we encountered was wise enough to drop that and allow us to leave."

"Last group?" Wolf arched his eyebrow toward the demon. "How long have you been having him?"

"Oh, not long, my sweet." The 'Gladys' flashed her pearly white teeth, before she walked back to the bewitched Templar and rubbed her body erotically against him. Levyn had to tighten his fists to a degree that his nails dug into his palm to stop himself launching toward the pair: "Or are you suggesting to be the replacement? I do welcome different kinds of…refreshment, you see."

"Thanks, but no thanks." Wolf shook his head.: "I think I will pass."

"C…Come on, let's go." The blood mage regarded the demon for a few moments before walking away from her.

"You…you are not going to stop her?" Lanaya seemed surprised.

"No," replied Levyn simply. "Unless you can make _him_ come back to his senses. Which I doubt any one of us here are capable of doing that, if the person himself does not have the will to do so."

"Armmmh…a wise choice, mage" The Desire Demon once again returned to her true form, much to the mage's relief. "To return the flavor, we shall depart here straight away, without bothering any of you. Before we go, a word of advice: What's waiting for you beyond the Tear is not a simple dark creature."

"We gathered as much, thank you," the Dalish Keeper snapped.

"The being," the Fade demon purred, "is hatching something. Something that involves that girl of yours." She pointed at Levyn.

"Gladys?" The blood mage paused, feeling his blood curdle.

"Is that what her name is?" The Desire Demon giggled. "The being had been corresponding with us for quite some time regarding that matter. Allow me to warn you: The ritual has started; either you stop the being from finishing the job, or your girl will diminish in time."

"Transforming into a darkspawn, you mean?" asked Wolf.

"Cha-cha," the Fade demon burst out laughing, her wicked voice echoing throughout the entire cavern. "A darkspawn? There are things much, much worse than a simple darkspawn, mortal. Have a good day!"

With those words, the Desire Demon turned around and returned to the bewitched Templar. Her hand stroked his arms softly and tentatively. She whispered something in his ear; at once, the Templar's face lighted up. He nodded eagerly, and his hand once again stroked the small of her back. The demon turned her head around and gave the group one last mischievous look, before disappearing in a poof of smoke with the Templar.

"I never knew his name." Wolf sighed. "I suppose that's not really important, now, yes?"

"We need to make haste." Zac threw his battleaxe over his shoulder. "From what she told us, there isn't much time. A passage ahead leads to old Gwaren."

"And that's where the Tear might be?" asked Lanaya.

"Quite possibly." The Dwarf chewed his lip. "Although I have no idea what a Tear looks like."

"I do." The Dalish elf nodded. Her lips thinned. "You will know it is the Tear when you see one, it's not something you get to see on daily basis."

Levyn stopped at the entrance of a passage. He glimpsed inside, and saw the familiar odd looking plantations and rotten fleshed glittering in the deep darkness. The mage drew a deep breath, and tightened his drip on his staff.

"We are getting near," said the apostate over his shoulder. "Possible darkspawn ahead."

* * *

Tabi ran across the square at top speed, nearly tripped over by the broken cobblestones and burnt body parts a few times. Her hair was disarrayed. There were cuts and bruises all over her, but she seemed to ignore them. Her face was filled with wild panic and fear. Tears streaked down her slightly plump face and, every now and then, a small gasp escaped her gritted teeth.

As soon as she saw the crowd gathered in the alleyway, she lost it. Her knees buckled. The Chasind woman collapsed on the ground, and suddenly lost all the strength to even stand.

"No…Boo…" She shook her head and mumbling meaninglessly. "No….Spirit of the Forest, please…NO!"

People in front of her stirred. A path was cleared and Gwen walked past them. A rather large gash was on the elder's forehead and bleeding quite heavily, but she did not seem to mind about that, either. The old lady approached the sobbing Chasind, placed a hand on her shaking shoulder and spoke gently. "Tabi."

Tabi's body trembled, but she did not look up.

"Tabi, listen to me." Gwen pushed the Chasind woman slightly. "Tabi, your son is safe."

"What?" The Chasind logger's wife jerked her face up and stared at the Gwaren elder with disbelief. "But I was….I was told…. The darkspawn…"

"Yes, the darkspawn had chosen to sneak along the coast and attacked from the coast, and we suffered causalities." Gwen smiled. "But, thank the Maker, your son is safe. He had minor injuries and seemed slightly frightened, but other than that, he's okay, Tabi."

Relief rippled through Tabi's body in waves. Her stiff shoulder slackened and tear swelled up her eyes again for completely different reason: "He's…safe?"

"Yes, Tabi." The elder smiled.

"Thank the Spirit…" Suddenly, she seemed remember something else: "What about Gladys?"

A certain hesitation flickered in the elder's wrinkled eyes. Gwen looked away for a few moments before returned the Chasind woman's worried gaze. "Gladys…she's safe, too."

"Oh, thank—wait, that's good news, isn't it?" Tabi frowned. "Why are you all here? What's wrong?"

"…I think you better have a look yourself, Tabi." The Gwaren elder sighed and stood aside.

The Chasind woman gathered up her strength and slowly pulled herself up. She approached her house, and saw Mihi sitting by the door, looked absolutely exhausted.

"Greetings, Tabi." The corner of the Chasind mage's lips curled up as she drew near. "You will have to excuse me for not standing up. It's a bit tiring, a whole night rushing around."

Tabi shook her head, and then nodded, without thinking. Her gaze looked past the smashed door and toward the room inside. Jethro was already in there, kneeling over Gladys curled on the floor and holding Boo in his arms. There were a few people standing around, as well. A large black mark was in the middle of the room, with smoke and a smell of stale meat still gushing out from it.

The Chasind woman scrunched up her nose and gingerly went past the darkened spot. She approached her husband slowly. His back obscured most of the Chasind girl's body, so she could not see what was wrong with her straight away.

"Jethro?" she called out, tentatively. "What's going on?"

"Tabi…" Jethro turned his head around slightly.

Then she saw her.

Gladys sat on the floor shaking, with one hand grasping a dagger that Tabi recognized as one of their enchanted weapons, and the other gripped her chest tightly. Both hands were completely black and had blisters all over them. Under her, there was a clean meter radius area free of dark marks. Behind her, the kitchen was a complete mess. Dark marks were dribbled all over the place, with plates and a shelf smashed and threw about.

"Tabi?" Hearing the new movement around her, the Chasind girl tilted her head up and search for Tabi. "Boo…is safe."

"I know, thank you." Tabi also knelt in front of the blind girl, her voice was full of gratefulness. "Thank you, Gladys."

Gladys smiled slightly, seemed relax a little.

"What happened, Gladys?" the Chasind woman asked.

The Chasind girl shook her head, looked unsure of how to answer.

"She fought them, and she won." It was Mihi who answered for her. "Hard to belive, no? When I arrived, that bug creature still writhing on the floor, with smoke gushing out of every gap in its body!"

"Wha—but how?" Tabi's eyes were widened in surprise.

They both looked at the Chasind girl. Gladys shook, seemed terrified with the memory. She withdrew a few breaths before she was able to recount anything that happened earlier.

"I don't…I don't know." Her voice shuddered. "They were coming in, I can feel them coming in. My body was burning hot. My head hurts like hell. The darkspawn was screaming, Boo was screaming, there were noises everywhere. Then I saw them."

"You…saw them?" Jethro arched his eyebrow: "But I thought..."

"Yes, I can't really '_see'_ them." Glady raised her hand and pointed at a blank spot in front of her: "But I sense lights, clustered lights swirled around them…I reached for the weapon and waved instinctively. My mind went blank after that. Spirits, their blood burned! They hurt like hell!"

For a while, they all stared at Gladys, not able to believe what they had just heard. Until an old, slightly sarcastic voice disturbed the silence around them.

"Oh, my. What do we have here?" Flemeth's voice drifted from the door. "The girl's giftbox has been opened, I take it? A gift from the darkspawn, _tsk-tsk_. Someone will need to train you, girl. Don't you agree?"

"Train…me?" Gladys tilted her head, seemed trying to digest the idea.

"Of course." Flemeth smiled. "To use the gift, and use it well, girl."


	13. Chapter 13

**Dragon Age. Origins **

** Levyn **

** Chapter Thirteen – ****The Tear of the Veil**

"Now, before we start," Jethro said as he shot a side-glance at Gladys as they stood in the practice field at the back of the house, "have you used arrows and bows before?"

"You are kidding me, right?" Gladys' brows shot up. "I am a Chasind, of course I do!"

"Sorry, Gladys." The Chasind logger scratched the back of his head. "It just…."

"I understand." The Chasind girl flashed a nervous smile before inhaling sharply. "It will be… a different matter when you can't see. So, please, carry on."

"Well…." Jethro shifted nervously. "Okay, then. Let's get started."

After the last darkspawn attack and Gladys miraculously survived, not to mention killing one, the Witch of the Wilds insisted the Chasind girl to learn how to handle her "special ability." They figured teaching her some basic weapon skills could do no harm, since when those sinister attacked, there would definitely be moments when she was alone.

They managed to collect enough darkspawn blood in vials from corpses they gathered. While they did not possess such a strong effect on Gladys, the Chasind girl could still sense them to a degree. Therefore, they were perfect for their target practice.

Tabi had those vials hung at the neck of their practice wheat dummies, before giving her husband an "all go" signal.

"Can you 'see' those targets?" asked Jethro sternly.

Gladys nodded, remembering what Mihi had spent the good part of the last two days teaching her, how to steady her breath and focus on her senses.

_ "Breath in," the witch's hoarse voice echoed to her ears. "Fill your lungs with air, not your belly. Excellent. Now, picture there is a red fireball situated in the center of your abdominal area. Imagine it grows brighter with each inhale. Hold your breath, good. Make the ball 'rotate.' Exhale. Do a few rounds of that."_

"_Now," Mihi carried on. "Try to stretch your senses. Use every bit of your skin and your ears. Can you feel the clothes you are wearing?"_

_The Chasind girl nodded._

"_Right." Mihi's footsteps walked closer. "Now, try to feel the ground you stand on. Can you do that?"_

_Gladys nodded again._

"_Excellent." Mihi encouraged. "Okay, now try 'feel' me."_

_The Chasind girl tilted her head, allowing her senses to travel from her feet outward. Very slowly, she could hear the mage's drape tousled by the breeze, and her rhythmic breath whispered to her ears. She inhaled another slow breath. The fireball in her belly grew brighter. And, suddenly, she could feel Mihi's warm skin from sitting next to the fire for a while. The logs crackled in the fire, sending out sparks like glowing dust into the air above it. The cauldron was bubbling away with some delicious onion soup. Boo was playing with a wooden sword his father had made him earlier. _

"_Looks like she got it. And in one go; that's an outstanding achievement." Flemeth's smiling voice drifted from near the window. She could "see" the Witch of the Wilds as she leaned against the windowsill. Her grey hair was slightly messy and her eyes glittered against the firelight. The darkened and well-polished magic staff, made of Remu, she held firmly in her right hand. The smirk on her face looked like she just saw the most amazing magic performed in front of her._

"_Arh, Flemeth." Tabi's voice drifted from the kitchen. Gladys turned her head around, and she "saw" the Chasind woman as she stood near the kitchen door. "You are not with the Revered Mother and Gwen tonight?"_

"_Nah," the old witch laughed. "I don't have to be with them all the time! Besides, I need some rum! Those served in the Inn taste like water you soak your socks in!"_

_The Chasind logger's wife returned a minute later with a clear glass bottle. The amber liquid swirled inside vigorously. "Orphee is going to weep if she hears you say that. Her rum in Gwaren is famous!"_

"_Bah!" Flemeth pushed herself away from the windowsill, turned around and came in through the door. She paused briefly as she walked past the doorframe, as if she was studying something. Hearing the witch's footsteps hesitate, Gladys frowned, trying to figure out what the old woman was watching._

"_If she has enough willpower to hold herself, the discomfort would not be so great when a real darkspawn turns up," Mihi said as she picked up an apple from the bowl on the table._

"_Indeed." Flemeth said, turning her attention back to the living room. "The meditation she has taught you is quite useful, child. Try practicing whenever you can. The more you do, the better you will get. You have heard of 'practice make perfect,' haven't you?"_

"_Yes." The Chasind girl nodded. "Of course I have."_

"_What did you see there, Flemeth?" Mihi asked through her full mouth._

"_What?"_

"_Before you came in, you seemed stop and looked at something by the door." The Chasind mage swallowed the fruit in her mouth. "That's where the darkspawn appeared a few days ago, wasn't it? Those who attacked Gladys and Boo?"_

"_I simply admired the daisy by the wall!" The old witch laughed exaggeratedly. "Arh…aren't they the purest and most beautiful thing in this world today?" _

"_If I may be so bold, Flemeth." Mihi chuckled. "But you don't strike me as the type of person who would stop and look at the roadside flowers."_

"_Why, aren't you a smart girl." Flemeth sounded amused. "Yes, I was looking the spot. There were still some magic matter residues floating around."_

"_Outside my house?" Tabi sounded horrified. "Does this mean those evil creatures will start their attack from our house again next time?" _

"_Don't panic, Tabi." The sound of her rustling robes moving across the table suggested the Chasind mage had reached across the table to squeeze Tabi's hand in reassurance. "Chances are, they won't do it again for a very long time. It takes a lot of mana to set up a route like this, particularly for a small group of darkspawn. I reckon they will try to take our city the old fashioned way — through the front gate."_

"_What kind of route are we talking about here?" Gladys interrupted, a bit hesitantly. "Levyn mentioned something about the Tear…" _

"_No, a Tear cannot transport darkspawn." Flemeth's hoarse voice piped up again. "One, perhaps. But judging by the number we encountered the other night, I would say it was close to twenty. No mage, darkspawn or not, could have that kind of power to do such a thing."_

"_So, what is it then?" asked Tabi._

"_I suspect," Mihi paused for a second. "It was a portal. And not just any portal, a portal powered by blood."_

"_By blood?" Gladys inhaled sharply. "A blood mage's doing?"_

"_And someone who knows a lot about such a practice," Flemeth added. "It's quite ancient; not many books mention it. Most blood mages wouldn't even know its existence. In my grand old age, I only witnessed such a magic being performed twice. The last time was during the last Blight!"_

"_Who performed the Summoning Poral last time?" Mihi sounded curious._

"_Me," replied Flemeth wickedly._

"Alright, Gladys," Jethro called out. "On the count of three. One."

Gladys drew an arrow from her back and knocked it.

"Two."

The Chasind girl aimed toward her target. Feeling the burning sensation tightened her chest; she inhaled sharply and tried to steady herself.

"Three."

Her fingers released the bowstring. The arrow shot out and thudded into the dummy.

"Humph…." The Chasind logger strode toward the target and wrenched the arrow out. "Missed it slightly. Not bad for…arh…the first time."

Gladys chuckled. "Don't worry about my condition, Jethro. I've come to accept that I am a blind girl and, most likely, I will be like this for the remainder of my life."

"Sorry." Jethro sounded a bit uncomfortable.

"Well, I suppose I will have to practice a bit more, won't I?" The Chasind girl grinned. "Come on."

She drew out another arrow and knocked it. Her breath was steadier this time as she carefully stretched her senses and aimed at the target. Brows drawn as she frowned in concentration, she released the bowstring.

_Thud_.

More arrows. Knocked, aimed, and released.

_Thud._

Knocked.

Aimed.

Held breath.

Release.

_Thud_.

* * *

**Somewhere In The Deep Roads**

A jet of icy blasting wind shot the Disciple right in the face, sending him flying backward and smashing against the cavern wall. The frozen body shattered into pieces as it smashed against the rock surface. The remaining darkspawn were running around the chamber in panic, trying their hardest not to be the next victim. The close, confined hall was full of noise: Darkspawn shrieking, rocks falling, spells whooshing across the room, spells hitting the wall or the dark creatures, and the Scholar's furious scream.

"Fail? AGAIN? AFTER I WASTED A GOOD AMOUNT OF POTENTIAL DARKSPAWN-WORTHY HUMAN'S BLOOD ON SUMMONING A PORTAL TO TRANSPORT YOU USELESS SCUM THERE, YOU BLOODY FOOLS HAVE THE GUTS TO TELL ME YOU HAVE FAILED YET AGAIN?" The leader of the sinister creatures was fuming.

"My….milord," another Disciple stammered. "We almost got her. I swear! It was just that….that…"

"THAT WHAT?" the Scholar roared. The leader's eyes glared at him angrily. "Tell me, what was it that caused you brainless scum to failed this time, with over half of the people in that city in the Deep Roads, navigating their way around the barrier I set up as we speak? AYE? ENLIGHTEN ME!"

"The girl…." the Disciple bowed, his forehead banging onto the ground loudly. "The girl suddenly seemed be able to… see us! She attacked with such accuracy, you would have thought she wasn't blind in the first place!"

"The girl…." The Scholar seemed to deflate a little. "… _attacked_ back?"

"Yes, milord." Blood soaked through the soil on which the Disciple's forehead rested, but he dared not move.

"I think she's been out there long enough to discover the use of our…. connections, my love." The infant voice suddenly echoed from the shadows.

"Our connections?" The Scholar frowned. "Well, of course! She had been tainted long enough!"

"Time is on their side, my love," the voice squeaked. "We must make haste. That girl must be brought back! She must be brought back! I want that girl!"

"Hush, my sweet." The Scholar once again tried to calm the voice. "Patience. Only patience could get us the most fruitful trees. Of course, we must get that girl. We still have enough troops up on the surface, summoning them for another attack won't be the problem."

"Are you sure about this, my heart?" The infant voice sounded doubtful. "You've promised me twice before that you will bring her to me, but so far I've seen nothing but a bunch of useless zombies!"

"Let's just say I will let our Disciple bring her a…special present this time." The Scholar sniggered wickedly….

* * *

"Levyn!" Lanaya cast a blizzard spell on a group of Fade demons consisting of a Revenant and several Rage Demons, causing the area to be suddenly covered under a howling wind and heavy snow. "Seal that damned Tear _NOW _!"

Levyn spun on his heel and charged toward the dark, hollow shadow floating in midair, his hands sparking with magic. Demons still poured from the black holes, sneering and snarling toward the group. Nearby, Zac and Wolf waved their weapons, slashing away as the ice spell weakened demons. Several Dalish archers fired ice arrows from a distance.

As soon as they encountered the Tear of the Veil, the group was swamped by demons as they exited from the Fade. Adding to the darkspawn drawn toward them, getting anywhere near the Tear had proven extremely difficult. Quite a few men had fallen within the first ten minutes. Levyn and Lanaya had to keep gulping down potent lyrium potions to retain their high mana in order to cast attack spells while healing and reviving their fellow expedition members. They had to take at least one hour's rest after the Tear was sealed up and all the demons and darkspawn alike were slain.

And it was just one of the many Tears. Soon, they found out there was more than one, and each one was bigger than the previous ones. By the time they reached one of the many naturally formed stone bridges, the Veil Tear that awaited them on the other side was large enough to fill the entire cave.

"Maker's breath…" Levyn gaped as they watched the demons and darkspawn roaming around the cliff at the other side. "How in Thedas are we going to seal that one off?"

"That's the only way to get into the old Gwaren," Zac said as he crossed his arms. "Tricky."

"Fire spell?" Lanaya suggested as she placed her hands on her forehead and narrowed her eyes to have a better look. "That should clear out most of the darkspawn crawling there."

"That won't work on those Demons, though." Wolf nodded toward the other side of the bridge. "Desire Demons, perhaps. But those Revenant and Rage Demons are pretty tolerant to that."

"We need two mages to seal that one off." Levyn chewed the left side of his lips. "Even with blood magic."

"Lanaya." One of the Dalish piped up. " _Durgen'bel_."

"Indeed!" The Dalish keepr's eyes immediately lighted up. "I can use _that_!"

"Alright." The bloodmage side-glanced the Dalish mage. "What's _that_?"

" _Durgen'bel_." Lanaya was about to explain when an unexpected voice interrupted their conversation.

"It means '_many stone'_ in Dalish. It usually known to the others by another name: 'the Oracle.'"

Everyone jerked their head around, and saw a strangest looking human slowly stepping out of the shadow. The person was really old; his hair was now silvery white; his face was half hidden under a silver mask that covered him from his forehead to his upper ears, and the expose parts were lined with wrinkles. His body, however, was strong built and muscular. The grip he held his two weapons was still tight. Several people drew out their weapons and pointed at the stranger. Unfazed by the unfriendly reaction, the man smiled calmly.

"_ Andaran atish'an _" The man bowed toward the Dalish. "Never in my living days I would have expected to see your kind again — or any non-darkspawn or demon beings in this Maker forsaken place."

"Who…who are you?" asked Wolf with an eyebrow arch.

"My name is Tainjen." The man took off one of his arm plates, revealing a Griffon tattoo. Several people in the crowd gasped, including Levyn and Lanaya. "Pleased to meet your acquaintance; I am a Grey Warden."


	14. Chapter 14

**Dragon Age. Origins **

** Levyn **

** Chapter Fourteen – **_**Durgen'bel**_

Tainjen was the only Chasind Grey Warden in the last century. He went through the joining over fifty years ago and had been in the Deep Roads for what the Dwarfs called 'The Glorious Death' in the last twenty years. He managed to live down here somehow until the Blight. The Deep Roads were almost empty for a time. When the Blight was finished and the Archdemon was slain, he expected those twisted creatures' return at full force just like everybody else. Instead, he encountered very little of them. He ventured further, eventually reaching old Gwaren, and then he discovered this.

Like a well-defended fortress, nearly the entire east side of dwarven Gwaren ruin was behind the Veils. Occasionally large batches of darkspawn would dispatch from within, some even including ferocious armored ogres and the bug-like darkspawn the Grey Warden called "The Children." However, since he was no mage, not to mention he was alone, there was no way he could seal off any of those Tears and wandered in himself. He had lingered around here for weeks, trying to find a loophole but so far with no success.

Now they showed up. Things began to look up.

"How do you know about the _Durgen'bel_?" Lanaya was curious.

"Saw a Dalish keeper use it against the Orlesian troops in my younger days." The Grey Warden grinned. "Spirit of the Forest, it was such an magnificent sight to see!"

"A Keeper only passes down the knowledge of _Durgen'bel_ to his or her First when they believed there was a threat that could affect the whole clan, sometimes the whole Dalish people." The young Dalish Keeper looked at the Chasind warrior thoughtfully. "To my knowledge there are only a handful of Keepers who wielded such a spell to date. I was privileged enough to learn that from my predecessor because of the Blight and … a certain disturbance in the Brecilian Forest at the time. And to cast it ... the Keepers only use it as the last resort. It is very rare for a non-Dalish person to witness, indeed."

"I quite agree." Tainjen inclined his head. "I was very fortunate to see such a spell being cast."

She stepped forward and glinted her eyes at the other side of the bridge. Determination clearly in her voice, she said, "And now, looks like we had no choice but to use this."

The Dalish elf bent down and picked up a handful of pebbles from the ground. Holding them in her palm, she tapped them with the tip of her staff and began to recite a long string of syllables Levyn could only assume was in Dalish. "_Durgen'bel, him emma assan, him emma bor'assan. Durgen'bel, elvhen nuvenin ma sahlin!_"

Lights beamed out of the Keeper's staff and covered the ground with shimmering light. Lanaya waved her hand and tossed the stones out of her hand. The small rocks scattered around the ground before them and made a small ripple of rattling noise, while each of them slowly glittering in a silvery hue. The Dalish elf raised her ironbark staff again. More bright lights beamed out. The ground shook. The small pebbles vibrated vigorously. Next thing they saw was at least a whole troop of elven warriors made of stones erected from the stone surface that stood there silently at her disposal. Each of them was fully armored, equipped with stone swords and large round shields.

The blood mage's eyes were widening in surprise. He could not believe his eyes. Had this Dalish girl, whose people usually believe in woods, just summoned a small army of soldiers made of stones? Shouldn't that be a Dwarf's territory? Then it suddenly occurred to him that the children of stone did not have the ability to cast magic.

"Originally, the stone should be the sacred bones of hallas from within our clan." Seeming to be able to read his mind, the petite Keeper explained. "But since they are such good friends to us, we don't want to scatter our friend's bones in the battlefield, do we? Hence we replaced them with pebbles we can find on site. Something nature had provided us. Now," she said as she tilted her head toward the Tear. "Shall we?"

Levyn and several others gave her an affirmative nod.

The elven mage cast anther spell. The stone warriors broke into movement, began to charge across the stone bridge and slash any darkspawn or Fade demons they came across. Behind them, the blood mage slit his palm with a dagger and drew a summoning circle on the sandy surface. Within minutes a blood dragon joined the marching troops and blew out stalling winds toward the surprise enemy. Wolf and Zac, along with several other fighters were with the stone warriors. They had reached the other side and immediately engaged with a Revenant and group of four Ash Wraiths. Arrows shot across the ditch from both sides. Tainjen drew out his long bow and fired frosted arrows.

With the help of the stone soldiers, the group managed to eliminate the darkspawn and demons at an amazingly fast speed. Soon Lanaya the Dalish keeper and Levyn found themselves standing in front of the Tears, both free of any sinister creature's attack.

"Time to close this nasty thing off." The Dalish elf nodded toward the black hole. Thick and dark smoke gushed out of the Tear. Rotten smells and blood curling sniggers echoed in their ears.

"Couldn't agree more." The blood mage clicked his tongue. "Let's do this."

"Let's." Lanaya nodded.

Both mages waved their staff, their movements in unison. Their lips murmured the same incantations. Sparks crackled from the tips of their magic staffs. Light beams formed and shot toward the dark curtain of black smoke. As soon as the ropes of light touched the smoky surface, they heard a high-pitched scream. As if fingernails had scratched on a porcelain plate's surface, the shriek gave everyone goosebumps. The ground shook even more violently, and almost every single darkspawn and Fade demon turned their head around. They snarled, some even abandoned their opponents and headed toward the pair of mages, attempting to stop what those two were doing.

"Someone needs to hold them up!" the Dalish mage barked toward the others, while her hands gripped the ironbark staff even tighter, using all her strength, towing the edge from one end toward the other. "We can't stop what we are doing now. Any disturbance that causes our sealing process to be stopped will result in a spell backfire that will kill all of us!"

Two Dalish archers and Wolf managed to pull themselves away from the opposition and took over the guarding duty at once. Along with several stone soldiers, they began to fence off any sinister creatures, Fade or mortal that went anywhere near them.

Demons on the other side also struggled to come through at the same time. Wrinkly, bulky knuckled hands and ghastly, disfigured faces kept emerging through the ripples of dark smoke, snarling and trying to grasp something. Levyn gritted his teeth, ignored the noises around him and tried his hardest to hold the spell in place, slowly closing up the gap. Above them, the blood dragon continued to frighten darkspawn and demon alike below, blowing ill wind that sent their blood boiling and bursting out of their veins. An ogre waved its fist and smashed several stone warriors into pieces.

The gap was closing up.

Another high shriek echoed through the cavern. Tainjen switched from his long bow to a thin blade and a large shield, and started bashing against the small genlocks, sending them flying across the floor. He spun on his heels and slashed another hurlock with his sword in one clean cut.

Lanaya's boots dug deep into the ground. The light beam coming from her staff stretched tight. Her small face was coated in sweat. Her brows were deeply frowned. She was concentrating too much to talk, nor shout out any comment.

The Tear was halfway closed.

Wolf managed to guard near Levyn, fending off coming darkspawn and demons. He murmured something that the blood mage vaguely recognized as some recitation from the Chant of Light. Blinding light beamed out from his body and purged outward, knocking off all the opponents within half a meter radius. Two Children dropped from the ceiling above and snarled. Their splitting faces were chopped off by the Templar's greatsword in the next second.

The gap was still closing at a snail's speed. Sweat droplets beaded from the corner of the blood mage's forehead and trickled down his cheek, dampening his hair. The cavern continued to shake; darkspawn and Fade demons kept emerging from the shadows of the stones in waves, trying to attack them. Zac waved his battleaxe and charged forward, disturbing an ancient darkspawn's spellcasting by engaging in a duel with him.

"Only a meter left!" Tainjen yelled out after he slaughtered anther small group of darkspawn and ash wraiths and cast the mages a quick glance.

"Stand your ground!" Wolf barked. "Don't let them sneak past you!"

Another ear-piercing scream. Two stone warriors were smashed into pieces. One of the Children hung over a dwarven berserker and feasted upon the screaming fighter while taunting wickedly. Hands and demon faces struggled even more violently, trying to grab Lanaya and Levyn into the Veil with them. Two Revenants managed to get past Zac and made an attempt to attack the mages, only to be caught up by two other Dwarves and being chopped into bits. The remaining stone soldiers continued to work as extra hands on distracting the sinister creatures.

"Nearly there!" A Dalish archer held his daggers backward and leaped onto the back of a genlock, his legs clapped round the darkspawn's neck tightly, and stabbed the blades into the dark creature's temple. Blood squirted out of his mouth, nose, and ears. The sinister monster let out a series of gurgles before it fell onto the ground. One Gwarenian warrior wrenched the arrow from a dead hurlock's body and pushed it into another one's heart, then twirled around fighting another group of deep stalkers as they snuck up on them while they were busy fighting dark creatures. Wolf stroke out another Holy Smite, knocking down several shrieks and genlocks around him.

Tainjen unsheathed two daggers from his waist and disappeared behind a thick black drape of smoke. Within second several darkspawn and demons were struck down by unknown forces. When the shadow-formed Grey Warden reappeared again, there was pretty much no one left on the small plateau between the stone bridge and the closing Tear.

The two light beams finally joined and the black surging smoke gap completely evaporated. The two mages collapsed onto their knees, both drenched in sweat, their breaths ragged.

"It's…it's done," Levyn panted.

"A moment…moment to recover, please?" Lanaya hung onto her stave, having trouble even holding herself up.

The rest of the group nodded wordlessly.

It took them over a day to recover. The blood mage and his Dalish keeper companion pretty much slept through most of it, and only woke up to eat and take some health poultices to speed up their recovery. Zac and Tainjen spent most of the time with each other, drew maps on the sandy ground and exchanged notes and information. Wolf and several others took turn to watch. Most of them could not tell the time underground, but according to the Keykeeper, by the time when they were all fit enough to press on, it was close to midday the day after.

"Right, we've cleared out all the Tears, so now there shouldn't be any problem, well, with this kind of magical problem from now on." The dwarven weaponsmith grunted as they gathered around a hasty map drawn on the floor for the briefing. "From here on we will be entering the dwarven Gwaren ruin. Judging from the Tears we've found, there's something hidden within the east side of the ruin," He circled the now-sealed Tear barriers with his sword, "where the old Gwaren Shaperate once were."

"Shaperate?" Levyn and several others, including Wolf and most of the Dalish elves, looked at the Dwarf quizzically.

"Similar to what you surfacers called 'the Library,'" Zac explained. "It's where we stored the 'Memories,' the archives of Gwaren. Every time when a Keykeeper came down here to complete the test, they signed their name in the lyrium – ah-hah, don't look at me like that: Besides us, only shapers are allowed to know how it's done." He grinned toward the astounded mages, showing his gapped teeth.

"Funny how the darkspawn decided to settle there, isn't it?" Tainjen chuckled.

"Indeed." The Keykeeper folded his arms and shifted his weight from one side of his leg to another. "Now according to our Grey Warden friend, there should be at least one last group of those sodding things in there – about ten to fifteen of them, more or less. And one powerful one among them."

"How do you know that?" Wolf gaped at the Grey Warden rogue.

"Grey Warden specialties." Levyn grimaced. "The inexperienced ones only senses them, some senior ones can actually tell the numbers."

"How do you know…you've encountered other Grey Wardens before?" The Templar looked at the blood mage; suddenly, he understood. "Wait, that was the other friend…wasn't he? The one who helped you and Lily…"

"It was a she." Levyn tilted his head and stared back at Wolf. "And yes."

The Templar continued to stare at him for some time. Several complex emotions were written across his face, and his mouth moved soundlessly. For a moment, the blood mage thought he was about to shout out something, revealing to the others who he truly was. His chest tightened. How would these people react? Would they change their opinions about him when the truth was told?

But instead, Wolf simply looked away, turning his attention back to Zac and Tainjen, who now focused on their strategy.

"There were a couple of golems still in there the last time I was inside the Shaperate." The dwarven weaponsmith rubbed his chin. "I cannot recall where their control rods were, but we still need to be careful about that. Those Shapers had thousands of places to hide those sodding things. Better safe than sorry."

"What can we do about the legendary golems?" one of the Gwarenians piped up. "They were meant to be ten feet tall and had lightening shooting out of their fearsome eyes!"

"I am sure we will think of something when we get there," another Dalish archer chimed in.

"Don't think too long, buddy," the Gwarenian mocked. "Or by the time you come up with a decent enough idea, we will all be turned into mashed spuds!"

They all laughed. The group pulled up camp and continued on. The high column led them further into the old Gwaren streets. There were marks of darkspawn everywhere. Odd-looking totem poles, piles of rotten darkspawn flesh, and braziers were at almost every corner. They encountered very little resistance from the creatures, however. They were mostly genlocks and shrieks. Zac continued to stop every now and then, mumbling something under his breath and using a skeleton key to open the doors of various houses.

"Noble houses in Orzammar still have plenty of hidden records here. No, not just treasures." Noticing that several people were staring at him rather curiously, the dwarf explained. "They often placed their request a while back, waiting for the next Keykeeper to enter the old ruins to fetch it for them. It's an honorable small quest." He tossed a few items into his pack. "Bless their ancestors."

They came to a large metal door at the end of the market square. Carved with elaborate Dwarven patterns that matched the one they saw on some of the older buildings in Gwaren on the surface, the gold sheet engraved on it still illuminated a faint glow under the layers of dust and grime.

"Aren't you going to use the skeleton key on this one?" Wolf arched his eyebrows as he saw the weaponsmith put the key back into this pouch.

"This one can only be opened with lyrium," replied the Keykeeper simply. "Raw lyrium, to be precise."

"How are we going to find that?" another Dalish elf asked.

"Why do you think they called us the 'Keykeeper'?" Zac winked. He fumbled inside his rucksack a little and drew out a small parcel wrapped with wolf pelts. The dwarf carefully unwrapped the piece and revealed the shiny mineral inside.

"A key made of raw lyrium?" Lanaya was in awe. "This is the first time I've seen the material in its original form!"

"Me, too." Levyn's eyes widened. "The only time we mages seen them like that was in the Fade!"

The dwarven weaponsmith simply grinned under his bushy beard. He found a small dwarven pattern indentation and carefully placed the key into the slot. The metal door made a loud click; a surge of energy vibrated through it and then it began to slowly swing open, making a loud squeaking noise on the process.

As the door slowly moved forward, they noticed there was something stirring inside the dark passage beyond the gate. Everyone immediately held their weapons high and glared ahead in alert.

It was a single darkspawn. A hurlock, to be exact. Compared to the rest of his kind, the creature looked slightly smaller.

"Arh…" He grinned wickedly as soon as he saw them through the gap of the opening door. "The Scholar thought you should be here by now. He sent me to greet you."

"The Scholar?" Tainjen frowned. "So it is true: He is still around."

"Cha-cha, and you too!" The talking tainted being's eye flickered in playfulness. "How interesting that you are still not one of us yet… Grey Warden!"

"What did he talking about?" Levyn jerked his head around and looked at the Chasind warrior.

"I've heard stories, coming from our brothers in Orzammar." It was Zac who answered the question, instead. "That the true reason Grey Wardens enter the Deep Roads at the end of their days was to slaughter as many darkspawn as possible before themselves turn into one…. Looks like it is true."

"Ah-hah!" The talking darkspawn clapped his hands and laughed. "So someone here does know! And from none other than one of the short legs! I am pleased. I am very pleased, indeed!"

Levyn stared at the old Grey Warden in shock. They, the heroes of Feralden, would eventually turn into the very thing they spent their entire life fighting against? Why? Was that why he was wearing a mask, as the transformation had already begun? Was that why they were so secretive toward the other people? Was that why they vanished after a certain period of time?

_Maker's Breath,_ thought the blood mage in shock. _Is that what was going to happen to my childhood friend?_

"Enough chattering, I think." The darkspawn chuckled. "The Scholar's waiting, and he will be most displeased if I bring you lot to him late. It is time for me to take you there, yes?"


	15. Chapter 15

**Dragon Age: Origins **

** Levyn **

** Chapter Fifteen – The Scholar **

The Disciple, at least that was what Tainjen called the talking darkspawn, led them to the Gwaren Shaperate through a dark, dimly-lit corridor. Like most areas in the Deep Roads, the walls were smudged with grime, blood and dust. Cobb webs hung in almost every corner. Unidentified skeletons and flesh were piled up in the corners every now and then. Levyn dreaded to think what they were. The image of what happened to the farm the day he met Gladys still lingered inside his mind.

"You know this 'Scholar'?" Zac whispered to the Grey Warden not very far behind him.

"Heard of him, in my dreams and among those creatures who talk," the Chasind Warden replied in low voice. "Other than the two that are scrabbling up North at the moment, he's the oldest."

"The oldest?" Wolf joined in. "Was he one of the magisters that entered the Golden City?"

"Not quite." Tainjen cast the leading dark creature another look thoughtfully. "But he was old enough. Exactly how old is he, I do not know. After all, I've never seen him myself. It was said that he was here when Gwaren first fell."

"So we are about to meet one of the oldest darkspawn in history," Levyn gasped. "Maker's Breath!"

They walked along the Gwaren street in silence. From the stone carving and Dwarven runes on the doors, these quarters once belonged to the city's wealthiest. Marble facades could be seen on almost every household, and gold foil still glinted beneath the grime on some doors. There were darkspawn bodies strewn all over the place.

"Some of them weren't…." The Disciple sniggered, "as patient as we. They tend to question the Scholar's motives and goals.

He continued to lead on without further comment. The group reached the far end of the street and found themselves standing in front of a large door decorated with copper and small fragments of lyrium-enchanted gems. On both sides, golems as tall as a small wooden hut stood and glared at them wordlessly. Their eyes shimmered in a faint red glow, sending shivers down everyone's spine.

"Golems." Zac grunted. "And activated. Humph…it's not good. Not good at all."

"How do they get hold of the control rod?" another dwarf caught up with the weaponsmith and murmured next to his ear. "And have you noticed their eyes? They look different. Are those Caridin's work?"

"Doesn't look like it," The Keykeeper replied. "Those sodding darkspawn did something to them."

"How was that possible?" the man whispered back.

"Well, they are in our Shaperate," Zac pointed at the door. "What do you think?"

The Disciple drew out his hand and knocked on the door. A loud metal scraping sound echoed from behind the door. The next thing they saw was the heavy door slide sideways and open in front of them. A small genlock stood just behind the gate, hands bound by a set of huge, heavy chains, and grinned at them, almost ear to ear, baring all its jagged teeth. It watched them step in, inclined its head slightly, turned around and disappeared into the mist.

Heavy mildew and the stench of rotten flesh rushed up to their nostrils. Several people quickly covered their noses to stop themselves from gagging. As the mist gradually cleared, they found themselves inside a rather large, well-lit cavern, plastered with large carved stone pillars and polished marble floors. Aisles of stone shelves extended as far as their eyes could see, with bowls of raw lyrium glittering at almost every corner. Between shelves, a stone table big enough for all of them sit side by side overflowed with books and vellums. The heavy index books, however, were surprisingly free of dust and spiderwebs — a sign that someone had been using them recently. Large spiders, genlock and runners rushed past them hurriedly, carrying scrolls, deep mushrooms and books with them. Several large hurlock omegas, armoured ogres and genlock emissaries stood next to the shelves, glaring at them wickedly and taunting toward them as they walked past.

"If I remembered this correctly," Zac whispered again under his breath. "We are heading to the chamber at the other end."

"Oh?" asked Levyn absent-mindedly. He was busy looking at the large cocoons, glowing in crimson light, clustered here and there around the well-carved column. He couldn't help but to have a sickening feeling in his stomach.

"What's in that chamber?" asked Tainjen the Grey Warden. "Other than lyrium?"

"It should be just the lyrium," Zac said as he chewed his lips thoughtfully. "But then again, it's been a while since the last time I was here."

They went past two large piles of what they presumed were dead men's tissue and found themselves facing another set of ornate doors. The Disciple came to a halt in front of the entrance and more knocking ensued. There was something grunting from the inside. The talking darkspawn bowed his head, his skeletal face was filled with the mixture of reverence and fear.

"They're here, Scholar," announced the sinister creature.

A surge of red light emitted from the stone surface. Then the door made a quiet click, swung forward and opened automatically. The Disciple stood aside, bowed and gestured for them to enter the room, his eye glittered with something wicked.

"I don't like the way he looks," Wolf mumbled as they stepped through the door.

"I don't like the way _any of them_ look," Levyn grunted. Lanaya behind him chuckled, trying to suppress a laugh.

As if someone read her mind, suddenly there was a childish laugh echoing around the cavern, setting everyone on edge. Innocent, children's laughter should be heart-warming and sweet, yet it somehow made the hair on the back of their neck prickle. They jerked their heads around, trying to locate the source of the mirth. They couldn't find it.

"Ah…welcome," another voice interrupted their distraction and snapped them back to the present state — they were there to meet the Scholar. "It is such a privilege to finally be able to meet the visitors who successfully went past my …_unique_ defense system."

They turned their heads back and saw a rather large hurlock standing in front of them, wearing an unusually large and bulky hooded cloak over his armor. His face was surprisingly human. White as porcelain and smooth as marble, the only things that reminded them he was one of the darkspawn were the haunting shadows around his eyes and the tears on the corners of his mouth that went all the way to his ears, dribbling with blood, making him look terrifying.

"You're the Scholar?" Tainjen arched his eyebrow.

"And you are the Grey Warden who had not yet succumbed to the taint within you." The Scholar cocked his head sideways. As he talked, more blood poured out from his mouth. "How intriguing."

Again, several other people shot the old Chasind Warden curious stares. The Grey Warden had kept most of their matters secret. Until a few hours ago, most of them had no idea why they chose to disappear into the Deep Roads after approximately thirty years or so. Now all of the sudden they learned enough about the legendary warriors. What else didn't they know?

Something moved on the darkspawn leader's right shoulder. The Scholar reached out his gloved hand and gave it a gentle pat, before side-glancing at the group in front of him.

"Forgive me, or any of my men here, for not attacking you on sight." His obsidian eyes seemed able to stare directly into their souls. "We aren't as barbaric as our less intelligent brothers, you see. I figured we could have a little chat first, don't you agree?"

"Cut the pleasantries; we aren't afraid of your kind," Wolf growled.

"In that case, we shall give you exactly what you came for." The Scholar laughed.

"Why have you repeatedly attacked Gwaren?" asked Levyn with a frown.

"Arh…." The darkspawn leader's eye suddenly lit up. "What do we have here, a blood mage? It's been a while since we last had someone like you enter this place. Then you must understand what I am about to explain, yes? Why did I keep attacking such a small town, rather than a major city? You're right; with now almost every major city in Feralden recovering from the Blight, I could have easily taken any one of them. But attacking and taking a city is not my specialty, you see. I am a Scholar, after all. We have two completely useless and immature young ones up north taking care of that, if they aren't too busy scrabbling and bickering with each other at the moment." One side of his bleeding lips went up.

"So you aren't going to aid any one of them?" Lanaya chimed in.

"Why?" The Scholar shrugged. "The golden rule when dealing with two scrabbling children is never to side with either one of them. No, I am not going to aid either of them, child of Dalish. My dutiful job is to record everything here, everything darkspawn. But…let's just say something…something we've been looking for for so long finally came along, it was hard ignore. We were very close, so close to getting it."

"You are talking about Gladys." Levyn suddenly looked at the darkspawn with an enlightened expression on his face. "She's the reason you keep attacking Gwaren, is'nt she?"

The childish voice once again echoed in the room. This time it was more desperate and filled with certain dread. "She's the one! My love, the Chasind girl is the one! Tsk-tsk, tsk-tsk! We cannot wait, we cannot wait any longer!"

"Patience, my love." The Scholar's smile deepened as he saw the mixture of confusion and fear that flew upon everyone's face. "Our guests deserve to know, don't you think? After all the trouble getting all the way down here? Don't worry, we will attend that matter very shortly."

He paced around the cavern, and kept eyeing the huge round dial at the other side of the chamber. It was the first time everyone noticed the device. The mechanical feature resembled the metal gate they unlocked when they were about to descend to the Deep Roads. It was slightly smaller, however, and there were no signs of any slot people could slip their hand into to open it.

Zac's face whitened. He seemed to recognize the dial. The dwarven weaponsmith's body began to tremble. Eyes bulging outward, he pointed his shaking finger toward the darkspawn leader.

"Where…where did you get that? It's not…it's not supposed to be here. You are…you are not suppose to know it!" cried the Dwarf. His voice was thickening with fear.

"Cha-cha, someone know about this thing, aye?" The Scholar laughed wickedly. "I found the record of it in this very Shaperate, Keykeeper. Surprised? No one other than those from Amgarrak thaig should have known, is that what's going on in your head right now?" He took a step forward, watching in tremendous satisfaction as the weaponsmith staggered backward and nearly tripped over the Dalish elf behind him.

"I've read your record here, all of them." The darkspawn grimaced and continued to taunt Zac. "And I reconstruct one! Yes, in this very cave. Surprised? Darkspawn aren't supposed to do such a thing? It's too complicated for their walnut-sized brain? Don't forget, the first of our kind were once magisters, we darkened the Golden City, how hard would it be to rebuild a small little device like this, aye?"

"What's behind the dial?" Tainjen asked the KeyKeeper nervously.

"The Lyrium Well," Zac's lips quivered. "The lost secret of Amgarrak's Lyrium Well."

"A _Well_ full of Lyrium?" Wolf frowned. "What so scary about that? Shouldn't Dwarfs be immune to such a thing? It's us that needs to worry about, isn't it?"

"The Lyrium Well is a device built by our finest smithy and Tevinter magister," the Dwarven weaponsmith explained. "It can shift anyone, including us Dwarves, directly into the Fade."

"What?" several people yelled out in surprise.

"I learned about it when I was here on my passage last time." Zac inhaled deeply. "It was our best kept secret. No one, not even the noblest nobles in Orzammar, knew about it. Every Shaper and KeyKeeper has to swear by their ancestors' name they won't tell a living soul about the event that had taken place in that ancestor's forsaken place. Sodding creatures, rummaging through our stuff and sniffing out everything that belonged to us!"

"Why, I couldn't even explain that better myself," The Scholar sniggered. "Sniffing? I kept this place nice and tidy, shouldn't you be thanking me? As for the creature that usually came with it, don't worry; I merely rebuilt it here, not moving it all the way from Amgarrak. I was told the Warden Commander had recently visited the place herself. Perhaps she had dealt with the creature you were so concerned about."

"Has she?" The weaponsmith arched his bushy eyebrow. "If you say so."

"Why haven't you opened it now?" Tainjen pointed out. "Why lock it up?"

"I am waiting for the right time." The darkspawn smiled.

"The right time for what?" The crease on Levyn's forehead deepened.

"The right time our present is open!" The infant voice squeaked again. "Tsk-tsk, I love presents! "

It started to laugh and laugh. The high pitch voice echoed within the chamber, nearly deafening their ears. The Scholar started to laugh, too. He came to a halt in front of them and slowly left off his cloak. Everyone's eyes soon widened in shock. On his right shoulder was attached the most bizarre creature they had ever seen. As if it was sitting on a slab of tissue and tentacles, a small girl's body grinned toward them wickedly. Her hair was wild; her face, although bloated, still looked somewhat older than her voice; her eyes were bloodshot and filled with madness; and her mouth was also splitting from ear to ear.

"Allow me to introduce my twin, my sibling, my love." The Scholar's grin deepened, to a degree all they saw was a bloody gash. "Xue."

"They are surprised!" The little girl on his shoulder squealed and clapped her hands enthusiastically. "Look at them, my love, they were surprised!"

"You are a Hurlock," The Grey Warden blurted out disbelievingly. "As well as a broodmother?"

"Intriguing, no?" The Scholar cocked his head sideways. His head leaned toward Xue on his shoulder. "It was actually quite simple really. Our tribe had always treated us as some sinister creation from the Spirit. To them, we were the cursed ones; we were no different from the darkspawn. They seized their first opportunity, abandoned us as they ran from the darkspawn, and left us to die in the forest. The darkspawn took us, injected their taint in us, and for the first time since we were born, we realised our full potential. We thrive in this cruel, mindless place. We were able to cast magic. We slaughtered those who despised us, those who thought we were weak, darkspawn or not. When the Dwarven Empire fell, we studied, and we learned. When the Tevinter fell, we did the same. We were one. We were whole. We were complete."

"Yet you want something." Levyn pointed out. His hand rested on his chin. "You searched for that. All the records of fallen empires, all the legends and lore, you searched for it."

"Why, aren't you a smart chap." Xue suddenly gazed toward the blood mage and took some interest on him. "Yes, indeed. We were searching for a cure, a cure!"

"A way to separate us without one of us dying,." The Scholar continued. "It took us some time. But we finally found it. A descendant of our blood, from our own tribe—"

"Gladys." The blood mage's eyes narrowed.

"Finding her was purely an accident. But as soon as the taint was within her and we were able to sense her, we knew." The darkspawn leader grinned.

"_She's the one_! _She's the one_!" squeaked Xue excitedly. "Trapped her in the Fade, and she will be MINE! We will be two at last! My love, at last!"

A loud bang erupted in Levyn's head. His mind went blank. He read about this ritual long ago, inside the First Enchanter's office. A blood ritual of swapping bodies. It was one of the lesser known blood magic. The book he found only recorded a handful of cases. He suspected there was more, however, given the Chantry's ban of blood magic after the fall of Tevinter and all maleficar had to go in hiding.

Now this mad darkspawn was planning to use it on Gladys?

The large dial behind them suddenly started to click. The sound of a metal chain scraping could be heard clearly once again. The Scholar pat Xue's head and half turned toward the huge door.

"It's time," said the darkspawn simply.

The dial soon finished turning and the whole door swung forward. In the chamber behind them, there was a hug blackened sphere floating in mid air. Surrounded by four stone pillars carved with runes, each had a bulky, heavy chain that linked them to the wall. The sphere was jabbed with raw lyrium and humming in a low buzzing noise.

"By the Ancestors!" Zac gaped at the device. "A Lyrium Well! You... you really recreated this. I can't believe it…I…"

The darkspawn leader flashed him a proud smile before turning his head back to the gadget. The room somehow was filled with blue glowing light. The Scholar seemed in no hurry to go near the Lyrium Well. He stood by just in front of the faint blue light, and seemed to take a profound interest in the glow.

The sound of someone opening the door behind them sent their heart jumping to their throats. The Disciple who led them in earlier once again stood by the entrance. His face looked as though he was seeing a ghost.

"My… milord," he stammered. "He has returned."

"Excellent." The Scholar bared his jagged teeth. "Let him in."

The Disciple stepped aside, revealing another talking darkspawn behind him. This one, however, was transparent and shimmering in a cerulean hue. Not saying anything, he walked straight past everyone in the chamber and headed straight to the Lyrium Well. The darkspawn stopped in front of the device and carefully placed his foot on one of the stone tiles on the floor. Suddenly the black lyrium sphere above him began to turn. When it stopped, the blue light in the adjoining room disappeared.

"Milord." In everyone's gaping gaze, the Disciple now returned to the cavern they were in, completely materialized without a single ray of light beaming out of its body.

"Is it done?" asked Xue.

"Yes," replied the talking darkspawn.

The small broodmother started to laugh again, the childish tone sending shivers down everyone's spine.

"Did you hear that? She got the present!" she exclaimed excitedly. "Oh, my love, I can't wait to get in there! I want to get in there to meet her!"

"All in good time, my heart." The Scholar grinned at his twin sibling lovingly. "All in good time."

"Wait, who's in the Fade?" Levyn called out as the darkspawn leader was about to step in the smaller chamber the Lyrium Well was in. Fear began to trickle down from the top of his head. "This Disciple just returned from the Fade, hasn't he? The one in the Fade, who's _she_?"

"Why, isn't he an excellent student, my heart?" the darkspawn sniggered. "You are aware that such a ritual exists, are you not? Who do you think?"

The blood mage's face turned chalk white. Without the creature even telling him, he knew who was in the Fade at this point and time. They sent on a single darkspawn to Gwaren above. It was easier to get past the defense line without being detected. The Disciple had found her and successfully trapped her in the Fade. Without a soul, her body was free and at their disposal.

He entered the room and placed his foot on the tile. It was once again filled with blue shimmering light.

"Dispense our visitor, my men," said the Scholar over his shoulder. "They know the truth and they are not allowed to live. And after that, go fetch the body; I want that here when I return. "


	16. Chapter 16

**Dragon Age: Origins **

** Levyn **

** Chapter Sixteen – The Lyrium Wells**

"This is just jollying wonderful!" Zac shouted as he waved his battleaxe and slaughtered whichever darkspawn came anywhere near him. He, along with several other warriors, were standing just outside the small entrance of the Scholar's chamber, trying to fend off more of the bigger creatures as they entered the room. "We got a horde of darkspawn here to defeat while whoever that sodding talking squid is goes to the Fade to perform some sickening witchy ritual?"

"And if we all very unfortunately die from that lot," Wolf shouted back, "Gwaren will be stamped to the ground." Wolf's shield bashed a Genlock and pushed him toward a high shelf. Piles of heavy books fell from the dusty shelf and landed on the top of the small dwarf-sized creature, promptly knocking him off in the process. The templar rushed forward and sank his blade deep into the unconscious darkspawn. The sinister creature gurgled and gushed out several mouthful of dark blood before it finally stopped moving.

"We don't have time to make the acquaintance of those bloody folk," Tainjen said as he sank his sword deep into the chest of a giant armored Ogre. "I suggest we split up: Some of us head into the Fade with Levyn, and the rest stay behind and hold up those bastards!"

"Excellent notion," Levyn pointed out through gritted teeth, "but there isn't really any point to risk any of your lives for me." The blood mage withdrew his dagger from his sleeve and slit his left hand. Crimson immediately gushed out of the long cut, overflowing and dribbling onto the ground. "I will go through that thing and enter the Fade myself. I did it once before; it shouldn't be any different this time"

The blood mage threw his hands forward as he chanted the ancient Tevinter syllables and sent splattered blood toward several darkspawn, who were in the midst of fighting a group of Dalish elves and Gwarenian dwarves. The red droplets immediately attached themselves onto the dark creatures. The sinister monsters' backs suddenly went rigid, their eyes blank. The next thing they did was turn around and start attacking their comrades.

"Excellent! That shall buy us some time," Lanaya sighed as she watched the darkspawn now busily fighting against each other. "Levyn, let me assure you, as much as I like the idea of small numbers entering the Fade - fewer members will attract less attention as we trespass the unknown - some of us will really have to come with you. I haven't been into Fade myself, but from what I have been told, it is different every time you go in and nothing appears to be what it seems. There were just so many demon and minions in there, not to mention traps, you really need someone there to fight side by side with you."

"Don't even think of getting in there by youself, maleficar!" Wolf grunted. "I am pretty sure I've told you I will keep my eyes on you. If you are going in, so am I."

"Keep in mind we cannot let both mages enter the Fade and leave us with none." Tainjen joined the conversation after slaying another of the Children. "A mage is vital for any Deep Roads exploration. We will need you to stay with us, Lanaya."

"Then I shall come with you, _lethallin,_" one of the Dalish fighters said as he stepped forward. Like other Dalish the blood mage had seen so far, he also had _lallaslin_—similar to a tattoo, most of people in Feralden called it. His hair was a mixture of silvery grey and black. He gave his keeper a brief bow, who inclined her head in return, before tilted his head slightly toward Levyn. "My name is Athras. I had witnessed something far worse than any Fade creature. I am not afraid to enter that realm with you."

Lanaya smiled. "He's a brave fighter, _lethallin_. You've got yourself a valuable warrior."

"I will also offer you my service, friend of Gwaren." One of the Gwarenian dwarven females stepped forward. She was smeared with darkspawn blood. Her long, flaming red hair, tied into a loose bum, glittered slightly under the dim light. The blood mage recognized her as one of the guards near the front gate when the darkspawn first attacked the city. "Daraga is my name. You have saved our city twice. It will be our disgrace not to fight by your side as you enter the realm of dreams."

"Urh…thank you," Levyn scratched the back of his head and stammered. The blood mage felt his heart overflow with gratitude and warmth. He certainly did not expect this many people to voluntarily enter the Fade with him. After all, it wasn't very long ago that he was a wanted maleficar in Ferealdon—people usually stayed as far away from him as possible whenever his true identity was revealed. Entering somewhere unknown? Impossible.

"Better do this quickly, mate, those sodding things won't be happily fighting for us for long," Zac shouted from just outside the doorframe.

"Indeed." Levyn swallowed. His grip on his stave tightened. He took a deep breath and walked toward the small Lyrium Wells chamber. Behind him, Athras gave Lanaya a deep bow, with hands in front of his chest, while Daraga inclined her head toward the rest of the crew. Wolf stabbed his sword deep into the chest of another Genlock and tossed it across the cavern. The templar straightened his back, wiped the blood splashed over his face, leaving a long smudge over it, before giving the blood mage an affirmative nod.

"We are off." The blood mage turned and prepared to head toward the Lyrium Wells.

"May the Maker watch over you," Tainjen tilted his head aside.

"We will seal up the chamber behind you, _lethallin_." Lanaya reached out her hand to touch Levyn's and squeezed them tightly. "Should you locate the Scholar and destroy it, make sure you create a portal and exit from there."

"I understand," the apostate nodded. "By the name of Holy Andraste, see you all back at Gwaren."

"May the Spirit of the Forest watch over you, _lethallin_." The Dalish keeper's voice suddenly trembled slightly. "_Dareth shiral_."

"Uh…"_dareth shiral_." Levyn's face turned red. Once again, he did not know what to say. Saying goodbye had never been his specialty.

He turned around and entered the Lyrium Wells chamber. The large lyrium sphere floated in the air, emitting ghastly blue light. A low humming noise echoed around the room. A jab of pain pierced through his skull. The blood mage shut his eyes tightly, holding his head and hissing in pain.

"Andraste's knickerweasels!" He staggered backward. "I forgot…I forgot all those…this much lyrium…isn't very friendly to us…when being this close!"

He wasn't the only one. Athras, even Wolf the templar, both seemed to be having trouble to stand as soon as they stepped into the room. All of their faces were as white as blank vellum.

"We seemed to have no problem when Zac was showing off his lyrium key," the templar grunted through his gritted teeth.

"This…this is just way too much…." It took Levyn almost all his strength not to collapse onto the floor. "How…how did that Tevinter magister withstand these…when it was first invented?"

"Allow me, my friend." Daraga pressed her hand on his waist briefly before she walked past him and approached the device with caution. She tilted her head and frowned slightly; she seemed as though she was trying to remember exactly what those creatures did to activate the mechanism.

"Humph." She rubbed her chin thoughtfully before she carefully placed her feet on the stone tile the darkspawn set his foot on just a moment ago. "I think this was what he did…"

The familiar loud bang from the chains moving reverberated in the confined space once again. The lyrium sphere drifting in the center of the room began to rotate. When it stopped, the entire cavern was again filled with tinted blue light. At the same time, the maddening headache had tormented Levyn, Athras and Wolf was gone.

"Praise the Spirit!" Athras straightened up and investigated their surroundings. "I am not sure if we are in…"

"Oh, we are." The blood mage moved toward the door and carefully took a peek outside. Wolf steadied himself and quickly joined the blood mage.

The Scholar's larger adjoining cavern was no longer there. As the matter of fact, they were no longer in the Deep Roads. The chamber outside had been replaced by a rather small stone archway with a pergola hovering overhead. Through the surrounding mist that cloaked everything, it was hard to tell where the archway led. Levyn wrapped his hands around the magic staff tightly as he exited the room. The others followed suit. As soon as the last of them passed beneath the arch, there was the sound of something crumbling behind them. The four of them jerked their heads around just in time to see the whole room and the carved rock door disappear. They cast each other a grim look, knowing full well what this meant.

The remaining party had destroyed the device.

There was no return.

"Now what do we do?" The apostate sighed quietly. Direction had never been his specialty. During the time when he was still in the Tower, there wouldn't be a day that went by without him being lost somewhere, the First Enchanter had to send templars to go find him.

"There seemed to be something there, _lethallin_." Athras pointed at the flickering light in the fog.

"Humph…" Wolf moved closer to the edge of the pillar and narrowed his eyes to have a closer look. "A source of light. I wonder what that is?"

"You guys!" Daraga rolled her eyes: "Just _walk_ over there and you will see."

"What happens if it's something…" The elf hunter turned his head back and sneered at the Dwarf.

"Well, then we will worry about it then, won't we?" She chuckled and began to walk down the pergola. "Let's go. No time to dwell on the finer details!"

"Have you been to the Fade before?" Levyn arched his eyebrow.

"Actually, I have." The petite dwarven guard held her sword in her hand tightly and cautiously placed the shield in front of her. "Back when I was little, my family was cast out to the surface because of some petty crime they weren't even aware off. We were heading south and just went past Amaranthine. I think it was near the Blackmarsh area. I can't recall exactly what happened. Our family was lost in that bush for ages; kept walking in and out of what felt like some kind of dream. It was only afterward we were told we had ventured past the Tear and into the Fade by accident. Must have touched some kind of artifact there or something… To me it was like a very, very bad dream, monsters, wraiths, and dodgy looking people…it took me ages to recover."

Wolf stared down at Daraga, as though hardly daring to believe what she had just said. "Didn't know you've been through that at such a young age. I thought you were born and grew up here."

"My parents settled down here after that." The dwarf shrugged. "Besides, no one asked."

A sudden shriek disturbed their tension-easing chitchat. Several ashe wraiths rose from the ground and began to assault them at once. Flames flickered all over their bodies. As they attacked the surprised crew, the creatures sneered and taunted, enjoying the pleasure of watching their face thickened in fear. Levyn cast Stone Fist; bashing a few of them backward while Athras and Daraga rushed over and finished them off with swords. Wolf's body was glowing with silvery light. It became brighter as a surge of energy whooshed through his body and burst outward. Several wraiths around him screamed painfully and evaporated within seconds, leaving nothing but dark marks on the ground.

"Lovely, so this is what the Fade is like," The templar grunted after running his great sword through one particularly nasty, hard to kill off wraith. "I think the Order of Templars should have a course, similar to what the Tower has for its mages, so we get to experience what it's like fighting demons."

"I was told by the First Enchanter it wasn't possible." The blood mage stood up and patted the dust off his robe. "At the moment, the Tower only had enough power to send one person in at a time. So to have a party of templars inside the Fade is a bit unwise."

"What, you don't think we can look after ourselves in here?" Wolf arched his eyebrow challengingly.

"Not enough lyrium." Levyn cast the templar a side-glance before he continued on.

They finally reached what seemed like the end of the long pergola. In front of a beautiful flowerbed stood a familiar bronze brazier, its shallow dish filled with lyrium. Around the brazier was a rune circle marked with strange symbols that no one recognised. Knowing this artifact so well, the blood mage knew instantly what it was. After all, he watched his friends stepped toward the device one by one and headed into the unknown.

"Portal," he commented, and heard the others behind him gasp. "But where does this lead us?"

"We don't really have much choice." Athras looked around. "There isn't any other path."

"So we can only go ahead." Levyn chewed his lips thoughtfully.

"Looks like it." Daraga nodded in agreement.

The mage reached out and touched the lyrium inside the dish. The silver substance immediately coated his fingers and started to crawl up his palm. The apostate startled, trying to shake it off. The lyrium stuck even tighter. It climbed all over his body, eventually creeping into his eyes. The next thing he knew, he was standing at the front gate of a city, or the city's Fade version. The blood mage blinked, and again. It took him a few minutes to register where he was.

He was in Gwaren.

Everything here looked familiar, yet somehow he felt something twitching inside him, screaming at him to run as far away and as fast as possible. There was blood everywhere, on the walls, the doors, the cobblestones, even the banner that hung overhead by the gate. Dead bodies were scattered everywhere. Some he recognised belonged to the darkspawn, some were humans, and some were beyond recognition. There were piles of bones here and there, which the mage suspected once belonged to the walking corpses. Blood curdling laughter could be heard as far away as the docks. The blood mage could not help but tremble. Even given this was the Fade version of the city, it was still too horrible to see.

Several loud gasps behind him indicated that his companions had also arrived safely and saw the tarnished city.

"This…this isn't real, is it?" Daraga staggered backward and nearly collapsed onto the ground.

"No, we are still in the Fade as far as I can tell." Levyn carefully scanned around. "But this sight…I think this part has been tainted by the darkspawn."

"So…I don't have to worry about those dead people?" Wolf's face looked stricken.

"Not at the moment, no. But we need to be quick, I am not sure when the Scholar trapped Gladys in the Fade, or who else was coming with her." The mage frowned.

"Are you sure, _lethallin_?" Athras could not take his eyes off the dead body that hung on the wall, with a quaterstaff stabbed through the heart.

"I am…. this is the Fade, nothing is for certain, my friend." The blood mage sighed. "But what you fear the most usually is the first thing that happens."

"Then we better get going, mage," Wolf grunted.

Levyn gave him a quiet nod and headed into the city.

They quickened their steps and rushed across the square. The ground shook, and the clouds gathered. Two giant spiked beasts sprung into view. The blood mage and the templar's eyes immediately narrowed. They recognized the creatures. Towering over them, the two Fade creatures' beady eyes looked at them with a certain degree of satisfaction.

"Arh…so the tainted one was correct after all," one of the monsters sneered. "We have our snack right here, nice and warm and ready to serve!"

"Flesh and blood, waiting for us to feast on them and use their body as our vessel," the creature's partner giggled. "Without us even wasting a drop of sweat over how to channel into the mortal world."

"What…what are those?" Daraga drew out her battleaxes.

"Pride Demons," Levyn spat.


	17. Chapter 17

**Dragon Age: Origins **

** Levyn **

** Chapter Seventeen - Creatures of the Fade  
**

The Pride Demon, the most powerful and intelligent demon who ever existed in Thedas, was renown to anyone who was familiar with the Fade. Their hides were the best armor anyone had ever seen. Their ability to to defeat a contingent of templars single-handed was feared by mages and templars alike. One was enough to cause mayhem within or without the Fade; Uldred's uprising several months ago was a fine example.

Now there were two of them.

"All right, I take it these two aren't going to be our friends." Athras's grip on his ironbark bow tightened and eyes remained locked at the two giant Fade creatures.

"Oh, look, brother of mine." One of the beasts pointed at the Dalish elf and mused, bearing its jarred teeth: "Cha-cha, a painted elf!"

"Tsk-tsk, he certainly looks yummy, brother of mine." The other one laughed wickedly. A purple aura shimmered through its body

Levyn glared at the demons with his narrowed eyes. Up close, they were even more terrifying then what he had been told, or read from the books he came across. How could the Maker allowed something like this to exist?

"_They are spawned of the Fade,_" the _First Enchanter once told him._ "_They feed on the dark thoughts we have."_

"_Dark thoughts?" Jowan arched his eyebrow and looked at his tutor quizzically._

"_Rage, desire, sloth," Irving folded his fingers as he counted the dark psyches that typically exist within mortals, "and pride."_

"_Pride?" Neph, sitting next to Jowan, frowned and put down her quill. "Shouldn't that be a good thing?"_

"_Not necessarily." The senior mage shook his head: "When exaggerated, pride could make a person lose respect for what other people do. They became self-absorbed, overconfident, and arrogant. It is a dangerous, thin line between the positive pride and negative ones. Be humble; keep your feet on the ground. Don't let those demons seize the chance to feast upon you." _

"Never thought I'd live to see one of those things," Wolf murmured as he leaned toward the apostate slightly. "Makers breath. How do we get past them?"

"Honestly, I don't have a clue," Levyn answered with a shake of his head.

"Talk is cheap, brother of mine." The Pride Demon's thundering voice broke off their quiet whispers. "Let the feast begin!"

The other demon snarled. It raised its head, beat its chest rapidly and roared. The rumble nearly tore their eardrums and forced their hearts out of their chests. A surge of energy burst out of its body. The beast stomped the ground, sending out a shockwave so forceful it buffeted the small party, threatening to topple them to the ground.

Athras dug his heels into the ground, unsheathed his daggers, and launched himself toward one of the Demons. The Dalish elf waved his weapon, trying to stab the Pride Demon's chest. The Fade creature simply waved his hand and cast the elf away with a Frost bolt. The hunter's frozen body made a loud clang as it landed on the cobblestone. Daraga snarled, took a roll on the ground and slid directly beneath the beast. Her great sword thrust directly upward. This time, it went all the way through.

The beast growled. Its hands reached down and grabbed the dwarf. The giant fist grasped Daraga so tightly; it nearly cracked her rib into bits. The poor dwarf was screaming in pain. The Fade demon sniggered and shook even harder. The other Pride Demon muttered something under its breath. A cloud of heated air gushed out of its body and twirled around the purple skinned creature. Almost instantly, the area was engulfed in flame. Levyn's robe was nearly torched and turned into a pile of ash. Athras' ice prison melted, and dribbling with water, he shook his head and stumbled back to his feet.

"We will need to get her down." The Dalish hunter pointed at Daraga, still gasping in the hands of the Pride Demon.

The ground quaked once again. The blood mage steadied himself and raised his staff. He closed his eyes for a moment and chanted the familiar syllables. A giant stone fist materialized out of nowhere and smashed directly at the Pride Demon who was holding the dwarven warrior. Caught off guard, the Fade beast dropped the Gwarenian guard. Wolf and Athras rushed forward and dragged her back to safety.

"I don't think she's breathing!" The templar yelled, while the Dalish elf nocked several fire arrows and fired them toward the other Demon. Daraga's body was limp. Her face was wax-like, and her eyes rolled over to the back of her head.

"You two will need to cover me!" said Levyn tensely. The mage gingerly approached the unconscious dwarf, casting a quick glance over his shoulder to see his two companions as they went off to distract the giant Pride Demons, before turning his attention back to the warrior. He inhaled deeply, gathering all his mana, before he cast Revival on the Gwarenian guard. A surged of shimmering light rose from his body and passed onto to Daraga. Her limp body began to tremble. By the time Wolf cast a Cleanse Area, temporarily dispelling all magic cast by the Fade creatures, the dwarf had already snapped open her eyes and sat up.

"What… just happened?" She frowned.

"You were…arh…." The blood mage coughed.

"Dead?"

Levyn nodded.

"And you cast something to bring me back, I presume?" Daraga arched an eyebrow, half-mindedly watching Wolf leap away from the Pride Demon's fist bash.

"Yes." The apostate shrugged.

"Lucky to have you around in the time like this." She managed to smile and pull herself back to her feet. "I think we'd better help the lads before they turn them into mashed mince."

Daraga picked up her shield and ran toward the Pride Demon. "Has no one told you no dwarf shaking is allow, Fade or mortal plane?" She drew out her battleaxe and sneered. "Nug-snuggler, you are going to pay for what you just did. Oh, yes!"

One of the Fade beasts raised its hand in the air, sparks crackled. Soon the entire area was blowing in snow, nearly freezing all of them into ice poles.

The maleficar tabbed his fingers at his temple and thought feverishly. A revival spell was mana draining; he did not have enough of them left to cast any other powerful ones to knock them down. The Lyrium potions in his pack were running low.

Time was running out fast.

"This is when being with another mage would come in handy," he muttered under his breath and paced around in circle, before raising his stave again. "Humph… let's reduce the damage inflicted upon you guys first."

He carefully chanted the spell. An enormous light bubble burst from the tip of his ironbark staff and immediately shielded them, began bouncing off minor spells from the Pride Demon. However, it could not stop the Fade creatures from physically attacking them. One of the dark creatures bent its head and rushed toward Daraga, sending the dwarf staggering back and nearly tripping over. The Gwarenian guard cursed. She steadied herself, waved her axe and pommel struck the beast.

"Like that?" she snorted, sprung from her heel and turned. Her sword arched and attacked again. The Fade demon roared in rage.

Nearby, using a turned over carriage, Athras ran up and leaped toward the Pride Demons, which still struggled to stand up. His hand caught and grasped one of the spikes on the dark being's hide. Using the momentum, the elf swung onto its back. His dagger swung and stabbed. The blade sank deep into the soft skin on the back of the beast's neck. Screeching in pain, the creature kneeled down, sending another wave of tremors within the radius.

"Blood and damnation!" Wolf bit his lower lip and cast another Cleanse Area spell. A burst of wings gushed through the field. The purple cloud surrounding the Pride Demon evaporated slightly. The templar held his greatsword and quickly began hitting the creature vigorously.

Levyn watched his three companions battle the two giant beasts helplessly. His mana was still recovering. He just tipped one of the remaining bottles down, but it barely helped.

"Andraste's blood!" he cursed: "If only I have more powerful lyrium potions….wait…"

He suddenly remembered reading it somewhere a while back when he was in the Tower, that there were raw lyrium veins in the Fade, and they were completely harmless towards whomever it was that touched it. The blood mage jerked his head and looked around. It didn't take him long before finding a small cluster of lyrium just outside of the Fade Chantry.

The apostate made a quick dive and slid toward the raw material. As soon as his fingertips touched the crystal-like mineral, a surge of energy rippled over his body. Levyn immediately felt his mana recharge. He staggered back to his feet, raised his stave, and aimed its tips toward the Pride Demon.

"Now let's see…" He smirked and watched in satisfaction as his staff crackled with silver sparks. "This shall do."

Blinding light beamed out of the staff and rushed to the misty sky above. It then broke into thousands of tiny sparks and washed down at them. Athras, Wolf, and Daraga did not seem to be affected by it much. The Pride Demons, however, looked like they were standing in some kind of acid rain. Blood sputtered out of the beasts' mouth and their bodies appeared to be more transparent. Seizing this chance, Athras nocked four more fire arrows and fired them toward one of the Fade creatures at once. It did not take the hit as well as it the one a few seconds before. The dark being staggered and fell backward, landing spectacularly on the cobblestone ground beneath their feet. Its huge body shook uncontrollably and turned into a cluster of purple cloud before anybody could catch their breath.

The remaining Pride Demon roared with anger. Blood still dribbling out of the corner of its mouth, the Fade beast's head bucked toward Wolf and Levyn. The templar dived sideways, while the blood mage cast another Stone fist, plus Cone of Ice, knocking it backward slightly. Daraga rushed forward, with her battleaxe raised over her shoulders. The beast's right arms were chopped off cleanly as the machete fell. The Fade demon's howl almost broke their eardrums.

"Curse you! Curse you all!" it hissed as it lost its balance and nearly tripped. Its body was covered in blood splatters. The creature sprung and elbowed whomever it was behind. Wolf could not avoid it in time, the spike on its elbow piercing though his armor like clippers cracking the lobster's shell. The templar cried out in pain. His knees buckled and he collapsed onto the ground. The Pride Demon raised its feet and was about to squash him when Levyn cast Haste on Daraga and himself, quickly rushed over and pulled him to safety.

Under the cover of Daraga and Athras, the blood mage removed Wolf's chestplate and pressed his hands firmly against the gashes in his chest. A few more inches, and he would have had to cast another Revival spell … this time on the templar.

The apostate murmured the spell; blue lights shimmered through his body and transferred toward the Gwarenian templar's. His ragged breathing soon calmed and he was able to drag himself to sitting position.

"Oh, nice to see you coming around, Wolf." The corner of the dwarf's mouth twisted upward as she saw the templar had regained his strength. "We've slaughtered one nasty snugger, and now we have this one left. And it's already down one arm. Usually I wouldn't mind taking all the time we need to play with our new friend, but the Scholar is somewhere trying to kill our Chasind girl as we fight. A nice spell or strategy will do the trick."

"Huh?" Levyn blinked at the dwarven guard with a frown.

"Use one of your palm slashing tricks," the dwarf barked as she dodged the frustrated demon's attack. On the other side, Athras climbed onto a wooden platform and fired two more fire arrows.

"Palm….you meant the blood magic?" The apostate arched his eyebrow.

"Whatever you called that nug-snogging thing!" yelled Daraga through her gritted teeth. She drew out her greatsword and round shield and started another round of attack.

"But most of the Blood Magic won't work in the Fade!" Levyn pulled his hair frustratingly: "Arh…I must think of something that actually works! Mana Clash is still too slow!"

Loud sounds of crumbling stone came not very far from him. The mage sprung his head around, saw the Pride Demon toss a large piece of bolder toward Athras and miss the Dalish elf by inches.

"Well, try something!" Wolf urged.

"What? You? " The blood mage nearly lost his balance. "Of all people? Want me to do Blood Magic?"

"Why not, it's not like we have some kind of choice." The templar shrugged. "I was under the impression we need to get past this and save Gladys quickly?"

Levyn chew his lip thoughtfully and turned his head around to look at the Pride Demon again. Daraga and Athras were now circling around the being, tried to distract it enough so it wouldn't just attack one person. The Fade creature growled as it sprung, leaving trails of blood.

"It doesn't have to be epic." Wolf stood up and grasped his sword tightly. "Just a simple one will do."

"Simple?" The mage grimaced. "Since when did Blood Magic become simple? But I got your idea."

He inhaled deeply and drew out his dagger. The cold blade sent shivers down his spine as he drew it across the palm of his hand. The blood gushed out in an amazing amount. Chanting the old Tevinter syllables, Levyn began to draw runes on the cobble stone floors with the blood.

Clouds of crimson mist formed almost as soon as the droplets touched the surface. Out of nowhere, everyone suddenly heard the laughter of small children. The Pride Demon's face was immediately drained of color.

"You did not…you…NO!" Fear was written on its face.

The laughter soon appeared to be from the blood mist itself. It drifted around the wounded demon, quickly cloaking the beast within. The mirth's pitch suddenly went higher. Before anyone saw anything, they heard the Pride Demon let out a blood curdling scream.

"And this is not epic?" Wolf lowered his sword and looked at the mage quizzically.

"Believe it or not, no." The blood mage stretched out his hand and cast another spell. A burst of blood whooshed out of the red cloud and shot straight into his body. His hand was immediately healed. "The Tevinter magister who taught me this promised me it was their 'basic knowledge.'"

"When did you meet this magister?" The templar still stared at the apostate.

"Huh? Oh, when I was on the run, of course." Levyn smirked slightly: "Or do you think the Tower would be kind enough to invite them over to give us some lovely seminar?"

The blood cloud remained clustered around the Fade Demon. The sinister being now thrashing around the ground, its shriek now went even higher and clearly sounded like it was in great pain.

"We should get going." The blood mage brushed the dust off his robe. "We can leave the demon here."

"Wha—how do you know if it died or not?" Daraga cast the screeching creature another curious glance.

"The spell won't stop until the Pride Demon dies." Levyn shrugged as he began to walk toward the other side of the town square.

Athras looked at the blood mage differently. "You really don't look like a blood mage to me."

"I get that a lot." The apostate chuckled.

They reached to the other side of the square. Before the group entered the small alleyway where Jethro's wooden hut was, Levyn noticed there was someone standing by the gate toward the docks. It appeared to be a woman, staring at a dead Desire Demon, with her back toward them. Dress in standard Chasind cloth, her long hair flew wildly against the wind. Holding a blood-drenched dagger and a long bow on her back, she seemed utterly familiar.

"Wait, there's someone there." Levyn stopped and pointed out the woman to the others. "Hello? What's your name? What are you doing over there? Are you all right?" he called out. As far as he knew, she might be some dreamer trapped in the Fade, as he was told when he was inside the Tower. She might be able to assist them. Or she might be another Fade Demon in disguise….

Well, they would never know unless they talked to her.

The woman's back went stiff. She slowly turned her head around. Her voice was filled with surprise and relief. "Levyn?"

The blood mage's body froze. He recognised the voice. And from the reaction of the others, they seemed to recognise her, too.

The woman slowly turned her head around. Among the blurry mist, her delicate porcelain face was enhanced ten times over. Her eyes, for the first time ever, appeared to be emerald. Tears streaks flowed down her face. Her rosy lips trembled slightly as soon as their eyes met.

"Levyn?" she cried out.

Levyn could not believe what he saw. "Gladys?"


	18. Chapter 18

**Dragon Age: Origins **

** Levyn **

** Chapter Eighteen – In The Alleyway**

Levyn remembered when he was about ten or eleven years old, he and the other apprentices used to have swimming lessons at the Circle Tower. It was the only thing they looked forward to wholeheartedly every week.

Among his peers, he was the only one who knew how to swim properly at the time, given he came to the Tower rather a few years later than the others and had learned that from other village kids. Rather than endure a lesson in a skill he already possessed, he snuck away to find some secluded spot where he could relax while the senior mages were busy teaching the others how to paddle their feet correctly. Usually, the Templars found him by the time they were supposed to return to the Tower.

One of his favourite spots was a small pond below the Tower's herb garden. It could only be accessed via a narrow cave from the rock cliff. He loved that pond, and often spent ages in there. There was a small opening just above it, and he could see all the green bushes and flowers dangling from the garden above. On sunny days, the small pool would appear to be deep green, glittering with sunlight and looking absolutely beautiful. It made him feel as though he was in an oasis. If there were things that he truly missed about the Tower, that little pond was definitely one of them.

Gladys' eyes reminded him of that little pond under the Tower's garden. Deep, a swift undercurren_t_ and looking like the most brilliant gemstone in Thedas when brimming with tears and viewed under the sun.

It was the first time he ever saw her real eyes. He presumed it was because it was in the Fade. Everyone appeared as what they wanted themselves to be in this strange realm. Gladys would probably prefer to have her eyes back.

The Chasind girl was breathtaking. It was like breathing life into a statue and watching it came back to life. Within those brilliant eyes, he could easily lose himself. The girl now seemed…complete.

"Levyn?" She seemed uncertain about Levyn and his companions. "Wolf?"

Levyn was about to shout out her name and hug her when Wolf grabbed him by the upper arms. The man gripped him so hard; the blood mage was certain there would be bruises underneath.

"Check," cautioned the Templar. "This is the Fade. Nothing is what it seems to be. Check if she's the real Gladys."

It took the mage a few moments to register that Wolf was telling the truth. Nothing seemed what it appeared to be, indeed. The girl who stood in front of them could be anything. She could be a dreamer, a Desire Demon, a Sloth Demon, or worse, another Pride Demon. They had to be cautious about those things. He turned his gaze back to Gladys, who looked like she was thinking the same thing. Her grip on the dagger hilt tightened and her stare became cautious.

"Gladys…you've never seen me in the…mortal world." He opened his mouth a little bit hesitantly. "How do you know it was me?"

"Your voice," replied Gladys simply, her tears still drying on her oval face. "It's a little bit hard to miss: It had a certain desperation and sadness about it."

Levyn's brows shot up. He had never thought about how she felt about his voice. The blood mage turned his head around instinctively to see Wolf's reaction, only to see the others squinting their eyes at him and scanning him from head to toe. Suddenly, he had this strange sensation, as though he were an animal in a pen.

"Humph…now that she mentions it," Daraga said as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully, "You did have that kind of tone in your voice."

"Reminds me a lot of our old keeper." Athras smirked a little. "He had that tone in his voice, too."

"Ask her something," Wolf urged. "Something that only she knows."

"Wha…I don't know!" Levyn snapped. "Arh…what was the last thing I said to you before I left for the Deep Roads?"

The Chasind girl's face suddenly turned red. Her emerald eyes continued to stare at the blood mage for a while before she opened her mouth again a bit tentatively and whispered, " 'Don't apologise, don't you dare apologise.'?"

Now everyone jerked their head around and stared at the mage rather curiously, all probably wondering why and how did such a phrase occur in the first place. His face now as red as a radish, Levyn slowly walked toward Gladys, whose tears began to well up again. For a while, they simply stood there, feasting on the sight of each other, as they could hardly believe they were both alive.

"I….that…" Eventually the Chasind girl let out a big sob and pointed at the dead Desire Demon she was looking at earlier. "She…she claimed she was you…she…. tried to…. It was impossible you would do such a thing. I knew it wasn't you. I had to kill her. I…"

"Sssh…" Levyn quickly shortened the distance between them. He reached out his hand and ran his fingers gently against her cheek, brushing away her tears. "It wasn't your fault, Gladys. You did the right thing. How did the darkspawn trick you into the Fade?"

"It came…." Gladys slowly regained her breath and wiped the tears off her face. "In the dead of night after you and the expedition took off. Mihi was staying with us. When the creature appeared in my room, she was with Boo downstairs."

"So the boy was safe," said the blood mage. All of them let out a sigh of relief.

"Yes." The Chasind girl took another deep breath.

"What happened next?" asked Wolf.

"I'm not exactly sure." Gladys frowned. "It…I think the creature tapped my face. I could feel the burns on my skin when it touched me. I began to swoon. When I steadied myself, I found suddenly my vision returned and I was looking at the monster right in the eyes. I must say…it terrified me."

"Did the darkspawn hurt you?" asked Levyn.

"No. He said he was only ordered to deliver the 'present.' " The Chasind girl sounded slightly bewildered. "Then he turned around and left. That was when I realised I wasn't in the Gwaren I thought I knew…."

"How did you get the weapons?" asked Athras.

"They were on the wall?" Gladys blinked bewilderedly.

"I think he meant, how do you know how to use them?" Daraga chuckled.

"Oh, that." The girl blushed and smiled a little. "Jethro and the others crash-trained me. There was this little incident after you left. We had a darkspawn attack from the dock and…"

"And?" chorused everyone.

"Well, I miraculously fended off one of them." Gladys grimaced. "So, they thought they might teach me some basic stuff. Of course, I still can't do much in my condition…".

"Other than this Fade creature," Levyn looked around, checking if there was anything nearby. "Was there anything else trying to approach you?"

The Chasind girl shook her head.

"Now this is really strange." Wolf rubbed his chin. "You are here. And we were under the impression that the Scholar was coming for you. Yet…."

"Who's the Scholar?" Gladys cocked her head sideways.

"Those sodding things' leader," replied the templar simply. "You will meet him, arh, or her, soon enough. As for now, I suggest we'd better get moving."

"To where?" asked Athras.

It suddenly reminded them that there was no exit in the Fade this time. Zac had sealed off the entrance by destroying the Lyrium Wells. They needed to find a place where the Veil was thin, and figure out a way to create a tear before the Scholar caught up with them.

"Humph…." Levyn stared into the alleyway where Jethro's house was. His brows were in tight knots. "Where did you said those darkspawn attacked you?"

The Chasind girl pointed at the front of the house. "Right outside of the door."

The blood mage went silent. He grasped Gladys' hand and carefully approached the house. The others followed. As they arrived, he slowly paced around the door and kept glancing at the spot thoughtfully.

"What do you think, mage?" Wolf stood next to him, with his sword tightly in hand.

"They used a portal to get to Gladys from here." Levyn cautiously scanned around the main entrance: "I wonder…"

"Wonder what?" asked the templar.

"This should be easy, if a portal had been created here twice." Levyn arched his eyebrow. His hands stretched out and touched the air in front of him: "I may… I may not need any Lyrium, or much blood, to create a tear."

"You've learned how to do that?" Wolf was surprised. "Please don't tell me…this is basic, too?"

"No, it's not." The blood mage cast him a side-glare. "What makes you think it is?"

The apostate carefully drew out his dagger and flipped the beautifully-craft Antivan blade in his hand. He cast a few minor sensory spells and felt the magic current around him. Just like he had guessed, the flow in the alleyway was extremely uneven. There was a certain foul taste of blood in his mouth. He inhaled deeply, steadied his mind and slit his hands.

The blood gushed out almost as soon as the metal slid through the skin. It soon overflowed his palms and dribbled onto the sandy ground. Before he could cast anything, a ripple of a shockwave quaked through the entire alleyway, followed by a child's excited laughter.

Everyone other than Gladys' face turned white.

"Who's that?" asked Gladys in a rather high voice. Her grip on Levyn's hand tightened.

"Blood mage, so predictable!" Xue's shriek echoed around them. "So predictable! Open a tear? Cha-cha! Oh, my love. This is so amusing!"

Some unseen force suddenly grabbed the Chasind girl by her feet, dragging across the alleyway and tossing her toward the stone wall behind them. Caught completely by surprise, none of them was able to react in time. They watched in horror as her body rapidly bashed against the rocky hedge. Her painful scream was unbearable to hear, especially to Levyn. He looked around wildly, trying to locate their hidden attacker, but unable to see anything.

"Haven't those Tevinter puppets told you that blood magic here is largely ineffective?" The Scholar's voice was thick in the mist. "And yet here you are…pfft!"

Levyn finally managed to cast another spell through gritted teeth. Blood smudged all over his hands flew toward Gladys, forming a red bubble around her. The bashings finally stopped. The poor girl floated in mid air and seemed unconscious. The blood mage chewed his lower lip and watched the Chasind from below, trying his hardest to disable the protective blood magic shield and touched her.

There were other priorities to deal with first.

Purple shimmering lights suddenly appeared at the door of Jethro's house. Soon, smoke began to gush out in an amazingly large amount. In front of everyone's astonished eyes, the Scholar's veined and waxy hand emerged from the lights, and then it was his whole arm, his shoulder, his head, and finally, his whole body. One of his hands was holding something—something large and dribbling blood. It took them a few moments to register it was Xue's dead body—her conjoined twin had cut it off since entering the Fade.

"Where is your twin?" asked the apostate.

"Why, I am glad you are concerning about my beloved's health." The Hurlock inclined his head. "Perhaps we should leave you to be the last to die? Or the first?"

He shifted away from the glowing door slightly. The lights once again rippled. This time, it was a small drifting light floating through the portal. As it glided toward the Scholar, it began to expand and shapeshifted into a humanoid shape. By the time it stopped in front of the group, it was revealed to be the spirit of a woman. Surrounded by thin layers of dark cloud, the spirit seemed utterly familiar. It wasn't until she grinned toward them and opened her mouth that they recognised she was Xue.

"The blood mage cares about me?" Xue appeared to be less bloated in spirit form. Still wearing a haunting look, however, the Hurlock's twin sister tilted her head and stared at Levyn curiously. Her long hair was neatly combed along her bony cheekline. The split on her face and dribbling blood still quite apparent.

"What did you do?" Wolf blurted out toward the Scholar.

"Tsk-tsk," the Hurlock started to laugh. "What did I do? I merely destroyed the cage that had trapped her since the day she was born! She no longer needs it. Once we kill the Chasind girl right over there— " he paused and pointed at Gladys in the floating bobble, "—my love will take over her bodym and she will be free for eternity!"

"I'd like to see you try!" Levyn snarled back at the darkspawn angrily.

Xue laughed hysterically. "Oh, my love. I like this mage! Look at how he guards this girl so fiercely! Promise me you will let me play with him? Promise me!"

"Play with any of them all you want." The Scholar grinned, showing his ear-to-ear mouth and jagged teeth. Blood drooled out of his lips and splattered onto the floor. "Just don't forget to save some for me!"

"The girl?" The wicked spirit cocked her head toward the bubble.

"You will not touch her!" The blood mage growled. His eyes narrowed and his hands crackled with sparks.

"Try us." The Hurlock's smile deepened. "Cha-cha. You have no idea who you're dealing with. "

"I know enough," the apostate sneered. His hands shimmered with golden light.

A stone fist flew out of nowhere and hit directly toward the darkspawn. The Scholar stepped sideways and avoided the spell completely. The stone fist smashed onto the ground, broken rocks flying everywhere. Xue's wicked laughter went a few pitches higher, causing everyone's ears to throb in pain. The darkspawn twin waved her hands and summoned several Ash Wraiths to assist in the battle. The Fade Demon lashed out toward Athras, who dived sideways and unsheathed his weapon before he started slashing back toward the hissing beast.

Two other Ash Wraiths headed toward Daraga and Wolf. The Dwarf shield-bashed one of them, pushing the Demon up against the wall and nearly crushing it into pieces,while the templar cast out Holy Smite, promptly vaporising the other one. The Scholar grinned at Levyn wickedly; his image became blurry and soon turned into a large mass of dark matter. When the shadow reclustered and reformed again, it became a large Ogre.

The blood mage glared at the shape-shifted Scholar, and his face suddenly broke into a somewhat amused grin. The corner of his mouth curled upward as the Ogre looked at him bewilderedly.

"Ogre?" His eyebrow arched as he prepared his next spell. "Oh, you made a very unwise mistake, darkspawn."

"Oh?" the Hurlock taunted back. "Convince me, clever blood mage."

The apostate murmured the desired incantation. A surge of shimmering golden light gushed through his body. Everyone soon heard roaring thunder rapping from the distance. The bewildered Ogre was about to ask Levyn what was he up to when a giant golden knight pushed past the forest, climbed over the walls, and stopped abruptly in front of the gaping crowd. Its glowing orbs soon scanned toward the Scholar. A hint of fury burst out of its eyes. The spirit drew out its battlehammer and smacked the weapon down at the darkspawn. The sinister creature leaped sideways, avoiding his attack successfully, but he did not expect that as soon as the hammer touched the surface of the ground, it would cause such an earthquake; no one was able to stand straight, mortal or spirit. At the same time, thousands of sparks crackled around them, zapping the Fade Demons and their leaders so hard, some of the minor ones vanished into the thin air straight away. The spirit continued to do so in several rounds. At the end, it was back to Xue and her twin, the Scholar.

Returned to his original form, the Hurlock collapsed on the ground. His robe was even more battered, his mouth was gushing out more blood, and surprise and anger were written in his large obsidian eyes. Panting, he glared at the blood mage, unable to utter a single word.

"Thought all I know is blood magic, no?" Levyn smirked. "Think again."


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N** Second to last chapter.

My longest and hardest chapter ever.

For those who's follow this all the way here, thank you.

* * *

**Dragon Age: Origins **

** Levyn **

** Chapter Nineteen – Gwaren, The Two World**

"The Guardian?" Wolf stumbled back to his feet and gaped as Levy watched the Scholar writhe on the ground and cough blood: "You know that? The Guardian?"

"What?" The blood mage side-glanced at the templar: "Like it's hard?"

"It's a bloody Templar spell, mage." The senior Gwarenian Templar arched his eyebrows. "A high rank senior Templar spell, to be exact. There are only a handful of us who know how to cast this spell within the Order of Templars today."

"There was this one...one particular Templar back in our days at the Tower who obviously didn't think so." One corner of the apostate's mouth curved up slightly. "He seemed very keen to introduce my friend and I to such a spell. Come to think of it, I don't think he knew how to cast it, though. However, we can talk about this some other time, as we have some pressing matters to dealt with at the present…."

He turned his attention back to the Hurlock. "I am afraid Ogre didn't work, Scholar."

The sinister creature tilted his head and glared at the maleficar disbelievingly before he suddenly started to laugh wickedly, while his twin sister nearby burst out laughing, too. The entire Fade around them now echoed with hysteric laughter, filling everyone with a sense of dread.

"Arh, aren't you full of surprises, blood mage?" The Scholar grinned toward Levyn evilly. More blood gushed out of his ear-to-ear grin. "But has anyone told you those fools who entered the Golden City still wander about the Deep Roads when we became one of them?" His hands started to glow. "We wouldn't survive this long for no reason, _tsk-tsk_."

The Hurlock mumbled something under his breath. Crimson light beamed out of his hand and coated all over his body. It grew brighter and brighter; soon nobody was able to see anything at all. When the light faded, they noticed the Scholar was gone. Instead, it was a large red dragon spirit that stood before them. Its nostrils flared. Its huge orbs glared at them challengingly. At the same time, Xue waved her hands, her fingers flicked and mist started to gather around the malevolent spirit's body. Her figure began to shoot upward and expand, and slowly resembled some kind of tentacled creature. Around her, more Rage Demons rose up from the ground and charged toward them.

"Heh, nug-huggers," Daraga spat. She tightened her grip on her battleaxe, dug her heels onto the ground and hunched her back as the walking lava approached. "This is going to be…interesting."

The dwarf swung her weapon as the first Fade Demon drew near. The Demon snarled and shot a blast of fire at her. She dived away and rolled to the ground. The Gwarenian guard swiped her feet across the ground and waved her axe again. Another Rage Demon caught her mid way, using the momentum to drag her backward and pin her on the ground. Daraga hissed and writhed, unable to move herself away from the heat. Her armor became hotter and started to burn her skin. She dropped her axe and tried to punch the creature. The beast sneered, breathed fire onto her face, and laughed as her face scrunched up in pain.

Two Rage Demons also trapped Athras. Holding two scimitars in hands, the Dalish elf was fully aware of Daraga's situation, but unable to push the Fade creatures aside to rescue the Dwarven warrior. Frustrated, he vented them off at the foes in front of him, promptly hacked one of the spirit monsters toward the wall. The other Fade being sneered and launched forward, planning to used the same tactic its kind had just been using on the Gwarenian guard. The elf back flipped and landed on the rail of a house's balcony nearby, avoided the sinister being's attack skillfully. He drew out his bow and nocked two ice arrows and fired them toward the creature in one go. The Demon snarled in pain and fell slightly backward, before ascending up to the balcony and launching another round of the attack.

Clouds suddenly began to gather and wind started to whirl around them. The temperature soon dropped dramatically and hail fell wild and hard onto everyone. The Rage Demons hastily backed away from their prey and shrieked, trying to find a shelter to hide. The Dalish elf hopped down from the rail and sank his dagger deep into the Fade creatures surrounding him. Panting, he slowly walked toward Daraga and reached out his hand to pull her up.

"What…what just happened now?" the Dwarven woman coughed.

"Looks like our mage friend just saved us." He cocked his head side ways, gestured at Levyn not very far from them. The apostate lowered his staff slightly, giving them a slight nod, before his eyes returned to the shape-shifted red dragon and its twin in front of them. The mist slowly drifted away, revealing a giant, glowing three-headed spirit dragon. Shimmering in a blue hue, the beast joined its twin and glared at the blood mage challengingly.

"Two…two dragons," Wolf stuttered, unable to believed his eyes.

"And four heads." The corner of the maleficar's mouth tilted up. "Charming, no?"

"Indeed." The templar waved his sword and watched as the red dragon flapped its taloned wings and leaped into the air. The beast roared, inhaled deeply and breathed out a large fireball at the party below him. The howling blizzard slowed down the downpour, but still slammed the ground hard, sending sparkles flying everywhere, and Levyn and his companions wavered. At the same time, his twin in spirit form jerked her head and cast several lightening bolts at them. The electric lights bounced back and forth around the small alleyway, making certain the party had little place to hide.

Wolf swung his sword in one hand, his grip on the large shield tightened and charged out. The templar rushed to the front of the red dragon and aimed his attack at its large claw. The beast roared, breathed out another surge of fire and swiped his spike tail at him. He managed to avoid both attack by diving away from the monster and holding his shield over his head. He took a roll on the ground, back to his feet and hunched his back, readied for another attack coming his way. Daraga, having just gulped down several vials of healing poultice and healed to a combatable degree, picked up her battleaxe again and rushed to the fellow Gwarenian's aide. She dived past the giant beast's tail, carefully avoided its claws, before waving her weapon and hitting the base of the dragon's back leg.

The shape-shifted monster hissed. It flapped its wing vigorously. The wind around them twirled and twisted, forming a large tornado, which lifted and tossed everything within its powerful diameter. Hails from the blizzard began to smack everyone and everything hard. Seizing this chance, the spirit dragon stretched out one of its necks, its eyes crackling with sparks as it attempted to break the protective spell around Gladys.

"I think I said leave her alone!" Levyn growled through his gritted teeth. Arms outstretched, silver lights beamed out from the tip of his ironbark staff. The head went stiff and fell onto the ground. The remaining two turned around, hissed and glared at the blood mage.

Athras replaced his longbow with the scimitars shiftily, sneaked up to the three-headed monster and attack the sinister spirit being from its side. Caught slightly off guard, the spectral dragon took a few hits before it turned its attention to the Dalish elf. Seething, the spirit monster swiped its long tail at the hunter, attempting to knock him to the ground. The elf leaped, flipped and landed on a stack of nearby wooden boxes. He narrowed his eyes, moved his scimitars into one hand and quickly reached for his belt. Several daggers shot out and flew straight toward the dragon's orbs. The creature avoided some, but was hit by a few. It roared, casting more lightening bolts and swiping its tail even more viciously.

Levyn staggered back to his feet. With one hand blocking the showers of hail blasting toward him, the blood mage wrenched one of the daggers from a crack in the wall, straightened up slightly, lowered and stabbed his hand. Blood once again poured out of his palm. He murmured the Tevinter syllables under his breath and splattered the blood forward. Crimson shadows rose from the ground. Each had two dark glowing orbs that resembled eyes. They circled around the Spectral Dragon, seething and sneering, before each launched onto the stunned and slightly terrified beasts.

"Children of the Black City," Wolf blurted out, temporarily distracted from the red dragon. "Maker's Breath, you know that, too?"

"You know." The apostate placed his hand on the lyrium vein recharging his mana, turned his head around and grinned at the Templar. "For someone who's been taught by the Chantry that blood magic is bad, you certainly know an awful lot about the forbidden spellcraft."

"We have eyes in Tevinter," replied Wolf simply, before he lowered his head and dodged another swing of the dragon's tail. Seemingly not pleased to be ignored, the shape-shifted creature snarled and sent another jet of fire at the party beneath it. The Gwarenian dived aside, using the large shield as supporting point to get him back to a hunching defensive position. "At any rate, this is not a place and time to discuss this."

"You asked, templar," the maleficar snorted.

The Red Dragon fluttered its wings. Another surge of strong wind whirled past them. With one hand grasping a nearby pole tightly to steady himself, Levyn cast Stonefist at the giant beast. The giant shape-shifted monster's head knocked sideway. Its yellow glowing eyes glared back at him angrily. It stretched out one of its claws and tried to grab the apostate. The blood mage quickly moved away, and cast another jet of Blizzard above the alleyway.

Daraga snuck up to the back of the beast and managed to hop onto the ridge of its tail. The Dragon jerked its head up, aware of the presence of the Dwarf moving along its back, and stomped vigorously, trying its hardest to shake her off. The Gwarenian guard found some deeper cracks among the scales on the beast back. She dug her heels in and waved her battleaxe. The creature roared in pain as the first hit smacked through its thick scales.

As though sensing the pain, the spirit dragon nearby also shrieked.

"Think that hurt?" asked the dwarven warrior through her gritted teeth. She staggered a few more steps, raised the weapon over her head and slashed again. Another earth shattering roar, and more broken scales, flesh mixed with blood splattering onto the dwarf's armor. "Well, this is just the beginning!"

The beast shook even more violently, trying its hardest to shake her off. The Gwarenian guard grabbed the large spike nearby and did another round, this time very close to the base of its neck. More screaming ensued.

"This is for what your twin and her lovely pet just did to me earlier!" Daraga roared. One more axe blow sank deep into the ridge of the red dragon's back, once more it screamed.

The spirit dragon now abandoned fending off the crimson shadow being and tried to come to the aid if its twin. Blinding light and a foul wind of power surged through the entire battlefield, people on the ground saw the dwarven warrior's body freeze and roll off the back of the shape-shifted dragon. Still holding the battleaxe tightly in her hand, the dwarf's eyes widened with shock and disbelief.

"Paralyze spell!" Levyn shouted at the worried Athras and Wolf. "She's still breathing…for now! We need to get her away as fast as we can!"

The Dalish elf bolted out from his position, using the blizzard as a cover, and dragged the stiff Dwarf away from the red dragon, who was still recovering from the heavy blows, before the beast came around and squashed her. He placed her at the foot of a stonewall and drew out his longbow before giving the apostate a thumbs up.

Lights once again beamed out from the giant dragon's body. They soon found the Scholar had returned to his original form as it faded. His robe was disarrayed and soaked in blood. The Hurlock staggered forward and stumbled onto the ground. Panting, the Maker-forsaken creature closed his eyes and grunted, muttering under his breath and several Rage Demons roused up from the ground at once. He reached out his withered and knotted hand to one of the Fade creatures nearby. The thing let out a loud squeak before being dragged toward the darkspawn. Levyn and his companion's eyes widened in shock as the sinister being started to absorb energy from the Demon.

Relief and satisfaction washed over the Scholar's waxy face. Nearby, the spirit dragon grunted, seeming to be pleased that its sibling had regained his strength.

"This is not good," Levyn murmured, almost to himself. _Actually, nothing is good, by the way this is going._

_

* * *

_

Something was trembling and shaking, from a distance, another world, another place.

Someone was shouting, shrieking, and running. Small objects were hitting on some strange surface.

Gladys's hands relaxed slightly. Her eyes fluttered, but felt too heavy to open. Her body ached like it was being squashed by an Ogre. Every inch of her bones were shattered and reassembled in the roughest manner possible. The Chasind girl moaned, and then hissed when one of her cuts was pulled. She also felt her head was throbbing, like thousands of needles stabbing through it.

What was happening here?

Where was she?

_Get up, girl. _

Someone was talking to her, sounded as though coming to her through a thick layer of fog. She could not quite distinguish who that was or where was the voice come from.

Who…who's that?

_I believe you know who I am, girl._

What? Flemeth? How….?

_You will need to get up._

Gladys tried, and ripples of pain nearly torn her in half.

I can't!

_You will have to, as Levyn's life and the others depends on it!_

Levyn.

Suddenly, everything returned to her head. Being pulled through to the Fade by a darkspawn; the sinister demon disguised as Levyn trying to seduce her before she killed it; the real Levyn and the party turning up; the investigation of the small alleyway; something dragging her and bashing her against the wall; and…..

And everything went blank.

By the Spirit of the Forest, what happened to Levyn?

Trying to put aside the constant throbbing pain' presence, the Chasind girl managed to open her eyes in a slit. Immediately she saw a three-headed dragon spirit waving its heads and shooting lightening bolts at the ghastly red shadows and everyone else around it. From the carnage scattered around the small alleyway, it had been happening for some time. A silhouette, who she recognized was the Dalish elf Athras, hovered on the rooftop of a nearby hut. Firing arrows toward the giant beast, his arms moved in such a fluid motion that it became blurry. At the feet of the dragon, Wolf cast a Holy Smite. Bright silvery light beamed out from his well-built body, knocking off several Demons near him. By the wall, the Dwarven lady lay stiff and seemed paralyzed. Behind the templar, another horrible Fade Creature in bright glowing red color was snarling at a mage. The mage had several burn marks all over his robes, and his hair was soaked and plastered to his face. Yet, his eyes sparked with determination as he cast yet another spell toward the hideous being in front of him.

Levyn.

Gladys gasped, instinctively reaching out her hand as she tried to call out to the apostate. It was then she realized that she was wrapped up in some form of barrier, possibly placed by the mage, to protect her. He has been protecting her from the start. He had always trying to protect her….

And now he was a few meters away, trying to protect her, and everyone in Gwaren…

No.

She had to do something. But… what could she do?

_Listen, girl. You will do exactly what I ask you do to. We have very little time._

The old voice once again echoed around her, within the barrier. The Chasind girl dragged herself to a sitting position and gave her surroundings another look. Another spell exploded over her head, she saw the Dalish elf fly across her and smash on the wall. Her heart twisted.

There _was_ very little time.

What should she do? What _could_ she do?

_You will need to open a tear, sending everyone back to Gwaren._

What? How in the world was she going to do that?

_You are in the Fade, girl. Anything is possible. Just do exactly what I tell you._

The Chasind girl tightened her fists. _All right, tell me._

_Excellent, girl. Now, reach out your and toward Jethro's house door and aim your thought at the area where the darkspawn appeared and repeated exactly what I am about to say…_

_What about me? What would happen to me?_ Gladys thought frantically.

_You will return to your body of course._

In other words, return to the blind girl she used to be.

Gladys shook her head slightly. As long as everyone is save, she suppose it didn't matter…

Carefully followed by the instruction of the voice, Gladys pointed her shaking hand at the destined direction, tried her best to calm her mind and repeat the strange tongue. It took her a few tries to finally get it right. Strange light flickered from her fingertips and slowly drifted toward Jethro's hut. The air stirred. Suddenly, the battled paused; both the demons and the remaining party stared at the light.

"No!" It was the giant Twisted Demon who cried out first, filled with fear and horror. "Stop it! Stop it at all cost! Don't let the light reach the house!"

Other minor Demon leaped forward and tried to stop the light, but by then it had reach the spot. A loud humming noise vibrated through the whole battlefield area and a huge airwave rippled past all of them. It was followed by a bright green light, which quickly covered everybody in the small alleyway…

"They are here!"

"Quick! Weapons up!"

"Mages ready!"

The mist that usually filled the Fade lifted. Suddenly, the air around them was filled with voices. Levyn jerked his head around and realized they were once again returning to the realm of living. Athras and Daraga had been carried aside and tended by the Gwarenian mages. Several guards and Dalish fighters were fighting with the Rage Demons. Knights and a few sisters from the Chantry were holding up the spirit dragon. The templars had joined the fight with Wolf to the Sloth Demon, shape-shifted from the Scholar while they were in the Fade. Relief suddenly washed over him—a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulder. He shook his head, still unable to believe how his luck had changed in a blink of an eye.

The blood mage frowned slightly, remembering they all saw a small flickering light drift past them and hit the weakest spot prior to their return to this world. Obscured by all the effects of the spells and creatures, he honestly could not see who cast it. Who, in a realm full of demons, would see they could no longer hold on? Who, instead of revealing themselves, decided to remain hidden and help them from a small distance?

_Who could be that powerful, to cast a spell to create a tear?_

A loud shriek jerked his thoughts back to the present. The apostate turned and saw that the spectral dragon had called forward some Children to assist the battle. Large bug-like darkspawn emerged from the shadows and joined the attack with the Demons. Their loud screams nearly deafened everyone around them. The sinister creatures leaped and launched themselves toward their prey and sank their long teeth deep into their terrified victims' flesh.

Back in the realm of Thedas, the Scholar and his twin still wielded great power.

Large explosions occurred overhead. Levyn looked up and saw the Rage Demon had shape-shifted back to the Red Dragon form. The beast was now firing more fire bolts at both the Gwarenians and its own allies. A swarm of insects drifted from the balcony and began to move toward the darkspawn below. The mage's lip curled up. It looked like Mihi had joined the battle. The blood mage narrowed his eyes. The only way to diminish their power, by the look of things, was that one of them had to go first.

And he had a fair idea as to which one.

He took out his dagger and sliced his hands. Familiar Tevinter syllables streamed from his lips naturally as he drew a rune circle on the ground. Light beamed out of the runes almost as soon as his writing stopped. A loud cry pierced the air, the blood dragon once again summoned and circling just above them, breathing crimson mist and inflicting blood wounds upon the opponents below.

Not very far from him, Wolf managed to cast several Holy Smites, temporarily stunning the Spirit dragon and several minor demons around him. The templar dug his heels into the ground and sprung forward, his greatsword charging toward the Red Dragon. A couple of other templars and knights followed. The giant beast flapped its wings, knocking over a handful of those who came near. The senior templar came to the side of the beast, spat and began to hack away at its feet.

The monster roared. It raised its large leg and tried to stomp the templar, but he managed to jump away just in time. One of the other mages stepped forward with hands outstretched. He called out a spell, and suddenly the energy around them began to swirl. Elements of all kinds hit almost everyone on the field. The dragon staggered, losing balance for the first time.

Several huge bolts zoomed through the sky and hit the shape-shifted dragon. The beast roared, and dark blood instantly splattered everywhere. Levyn raised his head and saw one large ballista erected at the alleyway entrance, with no one but Ser Ciaren and Jethro standing behind it.

"Y'right, mate?" The Chasind logger circled one had around his mouth and shouted.

"Much better now!" the blood mage shouted back.

Jethro grinned and gave his friend a thumb up before he drew out his dagger and rushed in to join Wolf's party.

Stone elven warriors poured into the alleyway. Levyn's smile deepened as the familiar stone fighters charged toward the three-headed spectral dragon. He turned around, glanced up at the sky and saw the blood dragon still doing its best at making the opponents' blood boil.

Another loud shriek sent the ground shaking. It looked like the Red Dragon could not hold up much longer.

The blood mage murmured and cast another Blizzard before he conjured a swarm of stinging insects to the monster's direction. Jethro climbed up the back of the beast, seizing the chance of all the hail battering around them. The logger stabbed a couple of daggers deep along its neck. The dragon snarled in frustration, as it was unable to shake off the Chasind man. Wolf managed to move close enough to the monster and thrust his sword deep past its scale. He watched in satisfaction as black blood splashed onto his armor. The templar squinted, waiting as another heated fire bolt shot past, and continued to shove his weapon deep into the creature's hide.

As if sensing its sibling was in trouble, one of the spirit dragon's heads turned around and called out. It tried to cast a healing spell, but was trapped in a Force Field cast by a battlemage below. The ghostly being twisted and writhed before the glowing light on its body went even brighter. When it faded, people realized the beast had changed into a large drifting orb, floating about a few meters above the ground.

Several archers emerged from the balconies of the houses in the alleyway. All nocked their arrows and fired at both creatures at top speed. Lanaya appeared among her Dalish fighters, casting one Paralyze spell after another to stop the orb from moving anywhere. Being refrained by several powerful magic spells, the glowing light ball took multiple hits and started to flicker.

"Take it down once for all!" shouted Ser Ciaren.

Levyn cast another Force Field around the silver orb, stopped it from taking life force from the demons and darkspawn around it. The light slowly diminished and returned to a faint spirit collapsed onto the ground.

"What in the Spirit was that?" Jethro cried out.

"Xue," replied Wolf simply. "The darkspawn twin."

Unable to move, the spirit became more and more transparent by the minute. She looked up and turned toward the Red Dragon, her voice sounded like a helpless child's.

"My love… I am sorry…." Xue tried to smile, but the expression was sarcastic, mocking. "I am sorry…. I want to be…to be free…so much…."

The Dragon growled, as if trying to answer its twin.

The darkspawn turned her head around and glanced at the door of Jethro's house longingly one more time, before her body completely faded and vanished.

The Red Dragon's howl could be heard throughout all of Gwaren. It was now in a totally devastated state. The monster shook its body violently, completely ignoring the gashes and frostbites on its body, not to mention countless arrows that sprouted from its scales. Two more Mass Fire Bolts showered from the sky and smashed onto everything on the ground. Its glowing red eyes were filled with total fury. The creature flipped its wings; blood burst out of those darkspawn's veins around it and flew toward it.

"Watch it!" The swamp of insects returned to the ground the returned to the form of Mihi. "It's recharging!"

The monster roared. Its tail swept vigorously, knocking off a hug chunk of the wall and several archers on the top of it. It once again stretched out its front claw, attempting to grab Levyn. The blood mage cast a Winter's Grasp to fend off the attack.

Wolf waved his greatsword and cast another Holy Smite. The shape-shifted dragon stumbled as it was hit. Another templar stepped forward and cast another one. The sinister creature's body started to shake. It shrieked, making another last-ditch effort by breathing anther spit of Fire, intending to take everyone in the alleyway with it. Jethro tried to avoid the engulfing flames as they shot his way and lost his footing. The Chasind logger tumbled down from the dragon's back and onto the ground heavy and hard.

"Jethro!" Levyn cried out. The blood mage watched in horror as the Red Dragon flapped its wings and caused another set of whirlwinds, with the archer's barely conscious body right underneath it. Luckily, two knights happened to be near and dragged him away to safety.

Totally exhausted and nearly drained of mana, the Red Dragon could no longer perform any powerful attack. All it did now was flap its wings to stop anyone who went near it and send everything flying in all directions.

Levyn drew out his dagger. Instead of slashing his palm this time, he leaped forward and slid all the way to the dragon's stomach, using all his remaining strength to push the Antivan weapon upward. Warm blood poured down and covered his body from top to toe. He felt the creature above him stiffen, and its roaring stopped abruptly.

The next thing he knew, it began to fall on top of him.

The blood mage quickly crawled back out and ran. The ground shook as the dragon fell with a loud bang, dust gushing from beneath the beast as it collapsed onto the ground. When he looked over his shoulder again, he saw the dragon was dead.

Finally, it was all over.

Relief washed over him. Levyn's knee buckled, and the next thing the mage noticed was that he was kneeling on the ground, watching Wolf carefully approach the dead being and insert his weapon into its head to make sure it was really gone. Around him, the others chased off and blasted the remaining demons and darkspawn. Some of the fighters started to cheer and hug each other, celebrating the victory over one of the most difficult battles Gwaren had ever endured in the decade. The worst part of this ordeal was truly over.

A soft, tentative hand touched Levyn's his shoulder. The apostate slowly looked up, and saw Gladys smiling down at him. Her eyes were opaque and sightless once again. Still, her presence filled him with joy and serenity.

"Levyn." The Chasind girl was very close to tears.

"My name is Jowan." Levyn grinned back. "Allow me to tell you a long story."


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N** This is it, readers. The final chapter of Jowan's new life. Thanks for those who's been following my story. I truly appreciated it.

* * *

**Dragon Age: Origins **

** Levyn **

** Chapter Twenty – Gwaren, L'amant.**

The cave was filled with sounds of waves splashing against the shore, of seagulls shrieking and people yelling at the docks in the distance. The salty wind gently tousled her hair. Feet soaking in the cooling water below her, Gladys half-closed her eyes and enjoyed the early morning breeze, as it brushed comforting against her face. The corner of her lips curled up slightly. The last time she enjoyed something as simple as this felt like a lifetime ago.

It had been just over a week since the final battle against the sinister darkspawn beneath the old city. Life in Gwaren slowly went back to normal. The Dalish clan stayed for a few days, left after helping out the villagers rebuild their houses and restock their supplies. When they bid their goodbye at the city gate, Lanaya gave the Chasind girl an ironbark hair ornament, saying it would protect her from the elements in the forest should she venture therein. Gladys was close to tears as she grasped the hair comb her hands. Athras pressed a bow and arrow set into her hands as the clan began to depart. The stoic archer patted her shoulder gently before wishing her well. According to the others, it was beautifully carved and well balanced.

Zac had returned to his workshop. Rebuilding the city had kept him very busy. He and the others managed to destroy the Lyrium Wells and the small chamber before they managed to leave that cursed city's ruins. The gate to old Gwaren was once again sealed, until the next Keykeeper unlocked it. Tainjin came to the surface with them. He had been summoned to Denerium to meet King Alistair, to explain the whole situation and be examined by the Grey Wardens there about his condition. He and Ser Ciaren had departed a few nights ago.

Daraga recovered pretty quickly. The dwarven guard had now returned to her post. She often dropped by Jethro's from time to time, asking for his ale. According to her, the Chasind logger's home brew made Ophee's "taste like nug piss." Mihi led a few other mages and some guards to Waverlys' abandoned farm. They managed to clear out that area and caste darkspawn repelling spells. Since Gladys was the only surviving member of the Waverlys, the farm became rightfully hers. Suddenly, the Chasind girl went from a penniless nomad to someone with decent assets.

As for Flemeth, the infamous Witch of the Wilds vanished without a trace. When relating what had happened inside the force bubble during that crucial moment, everyone was in awe. It was like she knew that moment would come, and prepared the entire city before that. Why would a legendary witch wanted to help a city like Gwaren still remained a mystery to them.

A series of quiet footsteps echoed behind her. "There you are."

"Hi." Gladys half turned her head and grinned.

"Jethro told me I could find you here." Levyn came to her side and sat down.

"He did?" The Chasind girl's smile deepened. "Guess my secret hidey-hole is no longer a secret, aye?"

"Isn't that a bit strange that your favourite place out of the entire city is this underground quay?" The maleficar sounded amused. "How did you manage to get down here, anyway?"

"It's quite peaceful, actually." Gladys shrugged. "And it's not as difficult as you thought. Even Boo was down here a couple of times."

"Watch it." Levyn chuckled. "Tabi is going to scream if she knows this."

"Nay, she knew." The Chasind girl giggled. "It's the safest place in Gwaren, in her opinion!"

Straight after they killed off the Scholar and his wicked conjoined twin, Levyn had told her everything about his past. Like his name was originally Jowan; how he had been sent to the Tower at very young age; how he met his dear friend, the current Teyrna of Gwaren; how he had secretly practiced the forbidden Blood Magic without anyone knowing; how he had met the Chantry sister Lily, Wolf's younger sibling and fell in love; how he had betrayed everybody when he escaped the Tower; and how he ended up deep in the Brecilian Forest. It was a long and sad tale, and it ached Gladys's heart to know how a person could endure all that without telling a soul. Now she knew where his sadness and uncertain tone came from, and why he spoke of guilt from time to time.

She reached out her hand and found Levyn's face. Her fingers tentatively traced his stubbled chin, his nose, and his lips. The mage quickly grabbed them and pressed them against his face. The Chasind girl felt herself blush, and a tremor rippled down her back.

Heart in throat, Gladys heard herself ask, "What are you planning to do, now that everything was over?"

"I think… I will stay here for a while," The blood mage replied slowly, as though he was weighing his options. "Not busy running away from my past for a change. Gwen said there is this little boat at the docks. It is no longer in use, but she could get someone to covert it into some kind of houseboat for me to live in."

"A houseboat? Wow." She grinned. "Every child's wildest dream!"

"Exactly." Levyn laughed slightly. " I could see those children all gather outside of my house everyday, just to look at it."

Gladys laughed. The apostate reached out the other hand and tentatively touched her face, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. She could feel his breath as he breathed onto her face. She swore her heart almost stopped.

"What about you?" asked Levyn. His fingers lingered around her chin for a moment before extracting away.

"Me?" Gladys arched her eyebrow, ignoring the pang of slight disappointment that surged within her heart and trying her best to hide it.

"What are you planning to do, now that everything is over?" asked the Blood Mage.

"I don't know." The Chasind girl shook her head. "Jethro and Tabi have expressed their desire for me to stay with them. But…"

"But?"

"I've been trespassing on their hospitality for far too long." She sighed. "I like Gwaren. I'd like to stay here. But I am not sure where else I could stay."

"What about that farm?" the apostate suggested.

The image of dead bodies scattered all over the place flickered through her mind. Gladys instinctively shook her head. Her face must have looked really pale, too, because Levyn's hand quickly tightened around hers.

"I am sorry, I shouldn't have mentioned it," she heard the mage apologize frantically. "I should have thought…."

"No, it's okay." The Chasind girl tried to give the blood mage an assuring smile: "I…I know it happened a while ago, and Mihi had promised me there won't be darkspawn of any kind that will go anywhere near that place. But…I am sorry. I…I think I still can't face that place just yet."

"It's understandable," the apostate said slowly. "Perhaps, when you are ready, I can come with you?".

"I'd like that." Gladys relaxed a little.

Levyn once again reached out his hand and touched her face. She felt his fingers trail along her face and downward, finally stopping at her lips. His thumb pressed gently against her lower lips. The apostate murmured her name as she felt his breath against her face.

Then he kissed her.

It was just like how she remembered; the kiss was gentle and smelled of the mixture of poultice and elfroot. Gladys felt her whole heart quiver, and her head swooned. She slipped her free hand up, pressed against the mage's cheek and delighted in the sensation of his stubble against her fingertips. She inhaled deeply and kissed him back. Sensing her response, the mage moaned, and then his kiss changed. It became more demanding, passionate and clumsy. Levyn released her hand, cupped her face with both of his and deepened his kiss. The Chasind girl's hands moved and paused at his chest. She opened her mouth, allowing the mage's tongue to slip in further and dance with hers.

Both of their breaths were now short and ragged. Gladys' hands climbed up and wrapped around his neck, while the apostate's fingers found strands of her hair and knotted in-between them. At one stage, he gathered her up and sat her on his lap. His mouth moved from her lips to her earlobe, and then to the exposed skin above her collar on her neck. The Chasind girl sighed toward each and every one of his kisses, and when his shaking hands fumbled the button on her shirt, she found she was not surprised at all.

Nor was she afraid.

Why would she? He was the safest person who could ever be with in Thedas. With him, she was absolutely safe.

"Levyn," she gasped his name as he pushed the shirt off her shoulders. Her heart was in her throat when his hands reached for the laces of her small clothes. When she was completely topless, the mage paused. He pulled himself away slightly. For a while, his hands rested on her arms, and all she heard was the Levyn's heavy breathing.

"What are you doing?" she reached out, trying to search him.

"Nothing." His fingers threaded with hers. "You're…. Gladys…you're beautiful."

"You jest."

"I do not." The apostate gathered her back to his arms.

She shuddered as his teeth and tongue touched the bareness of her skin for the first time. They teased and nibbled their way down her throat, her breast, the concaveness of her abdomen, and returned to her lips again. Gladys thought she was on fire. Her body was enflamed and her skin burned wherever he touched.

Frantically, she began to tug his robe away. He groaned and shivered as her fingers brushed past his naked body. He whispered her name, and something that was not quite audible. His mouth once again found hers and captured them hungrily. His hands caressed her shoulders, her back, and gently kneaded her breast. She moaned, and cried out when his fingers rubbed her nipples playfully. Levyn pushed her gently, slowly lowered her until she was lying on the top of their clothes. His hands ventured upward, slowly leaving her skirt up until they reached the wetness between her thighs. The Chasind girl gasped and arched her back, as his fingers slipped inside her nether region.

She thought she had died a thousand times.

The mage removed the remains of his clothes and lowered himself over her. His lips claimed hers again as she felt hardness on his abdominal area. His hands roamed and stroked her body, sending her wave after wave of strong sensations.

She hissed as Levyn entered her. Her hands tightened into fists. The mage froze, and his voice was in shock.

"Maker's breath!" He could not believe it: "Gladys…you're…you …"

"Yes." Gladys barely found enough strength to twitch the corner of her mouth.

"Sweet Andraste, I am so sorry. You should have told me." Suddenly the familiar guilty tone returned to his voice. "I could…oh, Gladys..."

"Don't be." The Chasind girl's hand reached up and touched his face. "I wanted to do this, Levyn. I want _you_."

"Are you certain?" He kissed her again, tentatively.

"Yes." Gladys returned his kiss. She slipped her tongue into his mouth, feeling his breath became uneven once again.

"Gladys….my Gladys," he murmured as his tongue twined with hers. "I will never hurt you. This, I swear…"

His mouth wandered across her lips, the soft skin behind her ears, her collarbone and her breasts, until she was relaxed and began to enjoy the feeling of him inside her. The Chasind girl threw her head backward as he moved in and out of her. She began to cry his name as he plunged deeper.

He sighed her name and thrust harder into her. The mage buried his face in her hair and clenched her fingers with his. They climaxed simultaneously. Gladys swore she saw stars shooting out in her eyes.

As the world around them slowly swirled back to normal, the Chasind girl found their bodies still entwined, and were both covered with sweat.

Not that it wasn't pleasant, not at all. If they could, she wished they could stay like this forever.

Her fingers found his hair, and curled it between them. She felt his hands move across her face, gently brushed away her hair. She smiled as Levyn's lips brushed against hers.

"Gladys?"

"Yes?" She reached up, found his face and ran her fingers through his cheek absent-mindedly.

"I noticed you still calling me Levyn," said the mage.

"I am." Gladys replied.

"Why, may I ask?" The apostate caught her hands and pressed them against his lips.

"Because that's what I know of you, that's who you are." The Chasind girl tried to explain. "Jowan is your past, a very crucial past that sculpted who you are now. But that is no longer you. Something changed you since your travels in Ferelden. You have become so much more….my apology, my language skill is very limited in times like this. I do hope you understand what I am trying to say."

"I know." His mouth sought hers. "Don't worry, I understand."

Gladys responded as his hands wandered across her naked body once again, and her thoughts went wild. The time and space around them once again stopped.

"You know," she sighed after a while. "This is one of the moments I wish I wasn't blind."

"How so?" asked the mage.

"I wish to see your face, I mean for real, when you…you…" She suddenly felt herself blush.

The apostate propped himself up to his side, suddenly grabbed her hand, and placed it on his chest. "Feel that?"

"Yes?" Gladys frowned, slightly unsure where he was heading.

"That's where my heart is," Levyn said earnestly. "And it has been beating through all these times. You can feel me by putting your hand here. You don't have to see my face for that."

"Levyn…." The Chasind girl found she was speechless.

"Gladys." She heard him took a deep breath. "Gladys, I love you."

She shook, and could not believe what she had just heard. She jerked her head toward Levyn's direction and listened to his heavy breathing for a moment or so.

"You did not mean that." Gladys blurt out, in an almost inaudible tone.

"I mean every word." The mage kissed the corner of her mouth, his thumb touched her lower lip.

"You…. but I am…I am," the Chasind girl suddenly found herself stuttering.

"Not by your choice." The apostate kissed her eyelids. "You brought peace into my otherwise troubled mind. Your presence soothed the guilt that was a constant presence in my head. I am at my happiest when I am with you, Gladys. To me, you are the most beautiful woman I've every met. _I love you_, with my heart and my soul."

"What about Lily?" Gladys felt her throat tighten. "And…Teyrna Neph…."

"I loved them both, for a time," Levyn sighed. His voice sounded distancy and slightly in pain as he replied to her question thoughtfully. "I must say, as my mind was clouded with other matters, their presence was…it provided temporary refuge, which I mistook then as love. It was not fair to them, and I remain feeling sorry for that until today. I do hope I have the chance to right the wrong I made one day, Gladys. I sincerely hope so."

"You already did." The Chasind smiled.

"Excuse me?"

"You already did, Levyn." Gladys traced her fingers up his cheek and found his lips again. "You saved Gwaren, you got rid of the darkspawn beneath us, and you saved me. If that wasn't some kind of redemption, then I am not sure what else is."

The mage pulled her back to his arms and buried his face in her hair again. He inhaled, and murmured her name as the sound of waves echoed throughout the vast rock cave.

"Say that again," Gladys asked after a while.

"What?" Levyn puzzled

"What you just said a few moments ago."

"About Lily and Neph?" A hint of playfulness rose in his tone.

"No." She punched the mage's chest jokingly. "I am pretty sure you know what I mean."

"I don't?"

"Oi!"

"Alright, alright, I jest." Levyn laughed. " I love you, Gladys."

The Chasind girl held her breath: "Again."

"I love you." No more joking, the mage repeated the words wholeheartedly.

Gladys sighed, and felt herself blush. She reached out her hand, found Levyn's and curled her fingers with his.

"I love you, too." The Chasind girl heard herself said.

Levyn reached out his other hand, cupped her face and gave her the softest kiss.


	21. Epilogue

_**A/N **This chapter was not meant to be published. After BioWare announced Anders 2.0, I was so shocked I decided not to post this. But thanks to my dear beta and Nastrandir, I took some reconsideration and...well. _

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**Levyn**

**Epilogue – Gwaren, Ashes**

The small neck pouch, made of treated deerskin, lay innocently within the palm of his hand. It was so light and so little; it was hard to imagine its contents wielded such a magnificent power. If he had not witnessed Arl Eamon's miraculous recovery in Redcliff himself, he wouldn't have believed that power.

"Two Grey Wardens come all the way down here just to escort this?" Levyn arched his eyebrow at the blond mage beside him, could not believe what he had just learned.

"Hey, these are Andraste's Sacred Ashes we are talking about." The blond mage who stood next to him smirked, stroking a small tabby cat resting on his shoulder. "You can't be too careful, no?"

"Humph…." The blood mage nodded wordlessly and continued to stare at the small bag in his hand. To be honest, he was surprised King Alistair actually granted his request; considering the circumstances they met each time.

"It was a boon the Warden Commander – ahem, the former Warden Commander – requested before she resigned." As if reading his mind, the blond mage cast him a side-glance. "She heard about what happened here, thought this is the least she could do to help her only friend at the Tower."

"Neph…." Levyn murmured, then frowned. "What happened to her?"

"She left." The blond Grey Warden's face seemed to sadden for a minute. He looked up at the piercing blue sky above them and sighed, before he turned around and gave him a tooth-baring grin. " Pursuing her happiness. The last time I heard from her, she was in some remote fishing village at the boarder of the Free Marches."

The blood mage nodded half-heartedly. He remembered during their time at the Tower, how the small elven mage always had this hint of gloom glow in her eyes.

"Didn't really catch your name." Levyn reached out his hand.

"My name is Anders." The mage smiled.

"I know you." Levyn blurted out. "Or…I've heard of you. You were that mage who—"

"Suppose I am famous in the Tower, huh?" Ander chuckled. "Well, pleased to meet you, Levyn. Though last time I heard of you, you had a different name."

"That name belonged to the past." The blood mage stared at the Ashes again. "A past that shaped me, but no longer haunts me."

"I see." The Grey Warden lowered himself to allow the tabby cat off his shoulder. The small animal meowed and rubbed its head against his fingers, before running off chasing birds on the square. "Ahah, here they are."

Levyn allowed himself to grin broadly toward the group walking toward them. Among them were Gladys and the other Grey Warden. Without thinking, he walked off the stone steps and grasped the Chasind girl's hands. The blind girl blushed, but smiled brilliantly.

"Is it true?" she whispered, almost disbelievingly. The girl could not keep herself from trembling hard. "Is it true what the Grey Warden has…has brought….?"

"Yes." The blood mage squeezed Gladys' shoulder slightly. "Yes, my love."

"Andraste's Sacred Ashes." Jethro was right behind them. "The Sacred Ashes I kept hearing about when talking to one of those Chantry sisters?"

"You will see," said the apostate earnestly. "I was fortunate enough to witness its power once. I totally swear by it."

"Here we thought you might have gone all the way to Denerim to fetch the lady!" Anders on the top of the steps sniggered. "Maker's breath, you call youself a rogue, Nate?"

The dark haired Grey Warden approached his companion and gave him a side-glare, before he turned his attention to Levyn. "Is the Revered Mother ready?"

"Yes." The blood mage inclined his head and gestured them toward the Chantry's wooden door.

The Revered Mother, Ser Ciaren and Wolf already stood by the altar in front of the statue. Under the glowing hue of the brazier behind them, they all looked visibly excited. Levyn scanned around the room; Mihi sat in a corner by a bookshelf. Arms folded, she gave the mage a slight nod.

"Who's that?" Anders' eyes twinkled. "Care to introduce us when this is all done?"

"Of course." Levyn chuckled.

"Maker's breath! Never thought I'd live to see this moment," the Revered Mother exclaimed, and kept pressing her chest to calm her nerves. "Andraste's Ashes…it does exist…. what an honor…."

"Now we are all here," Ser Ciaren cleared his throat. "Shall we get started?"

"Oh, yes." The Revered Mother smiled. "Come here, my child." She pulled Gladys over gently and had her stand in front of the brazier. "Wolf, ready when you are."

"We might need your help here, if you may." The senior Templar inclined his head toward Levyn and Anders.

"No worries." Anders arched his eyebrow. "Let us know what needs to be done."

"Right." Wolf cleared his throat. He exchanged an acknowledging look with the Revered Mother before he reached out his gloved hand, closed his eyes and began to recite the Chant.

"_Let all repeat the Chant of Light, only the Word dispels the darkness upon us._" The Templar's quiet voice echoed throughout the Chantry, vibrating every corner of the room. As he did this, the Revered Mother untied the drawstring and poured the contents out of the pouch. Wolf's every word resonated as her hands moved above Gladys and sprinkled the Ashes on the top of her head.

"_Blessed are they who stand before the corrupt and the wicked and do not falter.  
Blessed are the peacekeepers, the champions of the just._" The senior Templar continued to read out the holy words.

"Levyn, Grey Warden," Ser Ciaren suddenly turned his head toward the mages. "Now it's your turn. We need you to cast the strongest healing spell you know."

"Right," Chorused Anders and Levyn. Their staves drew out in perfect unison, forming two beautiful arches. Silver lights beamed out from the tip of their staves and quickly covered Gladys' entire body. Sparks glittered from the Ashes.

"_Though all before me is shadow, yet shall the Maker be my guide. I shall not be left to wander the drifting roads of the Beyond. For there is no darkness in the Maker's Light and nothing that He has wrought shall be lost._" The Revered Mother carried on Wolf's verses in a more stern tone.

As the whole Chantry was gradually bathed in the milky-white light, for a moment, Levyn suddenly saw the jade pool underneath the Tower. Glittering under the hint of sunlight from the small patch of sky above, draped with soft moss and vines. The blood mage's heart tightened, then relaxed, feeling an overwhelming sense of peace.

"_Blessed are the righteous, the lights in the shadow. In their blood the Maker's will is written. _" The Revered Mother finished the Chant.

The light reached its peak and started to fade. As their eyes were slowly able to see what was around them, they saw Gladys stood in front of the brazier, with her hands clenched. Her eyes were shut, and her face emotionless. For a while, the whole room remained silent as everyone paused and held their breath, waiting for the Chasind girl to open her eyes.

And they did.

Slowly, they fluttered open, a hint of nervousness climbed onto Gladys' face. First, she shut them again, seeming to not want to face the outcome. Then the curiosity overtook her, and the Chasind girl made another attempt.

Under lush, long lashes, Levyn no longer saw the opaque, pearl, enchanted artificial marbles. Instead, he saw glittering emerald orbs, shimmering with love and joy. Those were the eyes he met only once, in the Fade, when demons and monsters were around them, when fear and uncertainty filled part of their hearts.

Now, he saw them for real, as bright as day, in front of him.

"Gladys!" He exclaimed softly.

The Chasind girl glanced across the room, before her eyes locked with his. Her lips curled up, and her eyes were filled with tears.

"Levyn."


End file.
